High-speed Rail Opening And County Economic Growth Spatial Overflow Effect

Since 2008,China has opened its first high-speed railway.By 2021,the mileage of high-speed rail has exceeded 40,000 kilometers.During the 13 th Five-Year Plan period,the national railway mileage increased from 121,000 kilometers to 146,300 kilometers,an increase of 20.9%,of which high-speed rail increased from 1.9800 kilometers to 37,900 kilometers,nearly doubled,completed in advance.The construction of the "four vertical and four horizontal" high-speed railway network was completed ahead of schedule,and the network of "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railways has been rapidly moving forward.Behind the rapid development is its solid and advanced technology.Meanwhile,it has gradually overcome the technical difficulties of high-speed,high-altitude,cold resistance and overload,etc.They have joined the ranks of the world’s advanced technology,and completed the key steps from catching up to leading the way.It is apparent that Chinese governments at all levels have increased investment in transportation infrastructure for driving local economic growth.High-speed rail,being known for comfort and safety,high-speed,punctuality,and large passenger capacity,affects the choice of people’s travel mode,which means the enormous impact on the road and aviation traffic.Therefore,it also has a profound impact on the flow of factors of production,regional economic development and spatial distribution structure in China.So is there any real causal relationship between the opening of high-speed rail and economic development? If the association is definite,how will it promote economic growth?Based on the panel data of 1596 county-level cities in China from 2008 to 2019,this paper constructs multiple difference-in-differences model and spatial dual differential metering model,and empirical research high-speed rail opening on counties economic growth in various regions.Based on satellite night average lighting data（DN value）evidence,it suggests that the opening of high-speed rail has a significant effect on economic growth of counties,and this positive action has a certain time lag.Moreover,the influence of the high-speed rail to the counties is much higher than that of the county-level cities.Compared with the county-level cities without high-speed rail,the opening of high-speed rail has increased the average light brightness of the county by 0.788.In this paper,terrain relief is used as a tool variable to better deal with the endogenous problem of high-speed railway construction.The impact of high-speed rail opening on economic development also has obvious regional heterogeneity.Compared with the central and western regions,the impact on the eastern region is more prominent.After replacing the variables of the above regression with GDP per capita at the county level,the results were still steady and solid.At the end of this paper,it discovers the high-speed rail opening policy of the neighboring county has a remarkable forward spillover effects on the local economy,but when the sample analysis of different regions is discovered,the space overflow effect is quite disparate.Economic growth in the eastern and western regions shows the negative space overflow.However,the space overflow effect on the central region is not prominent.While accelerating local high-speed railway infrastructure construction,the government is obliged to adjust measures or steps to local conditions,and give full play to local characteristic industries,strengthen the construction of supporting city clusters,complement each other’s advantages among regions,and build three-dimensional comprehensive transportation system,so as to promote the efficiency and development of counties.