Research On The Impact Of High-Speed Rail Opening On Human Capital Misallocation

Accelerating the formation of a new development pattern with the domestic big cycle as the main body and the domestic and international double cycles promoting each other requires promoting the reform process of market-oriented allocation of factors and improving the utilization efficiency of resources.As a new means of transportation,the construction of high-speed railway has improved the allocation efficiency of elements and injected new vitality into the economic and social development.Based on the panel data of 276 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2013 to 2019,taking the opening of high-speed railway as a quasi-natural experiment,and based on the multi-period double difference model,this paper empirically examines the impact of high-speed railway opening on urban human capital misallocation.This study found that the opening of high-speed rail can significantly improve the mismatch of human capital in cities and improve the efficiency of human capital allocation,and the core conclusion is still significant after a series of robustness tests.The mechanism analysis shows that the improvement effect of the opening of high-speed rail on the mismatch of urban human capital is affected by the two paths of knowledge spillover and industrial structure.Further analysis shows that the improvement effect of the opening of high-speed rail on human capital misallocation is affected by regional differences and the size of cities.The enlightenment of this article is that under the "double cycle" new economic development pattern,we should speed up the construction of high-speed rail network,cultivate and develop "new forms of high-speed rail economy",so as to improve the mismatch of human capital in cities.The research results show that,firstly,the opening of high-speed rail during the sample study period can significantly improve the situation of urban human capital misallocation.Secondly,the impact path analysis results show that the improvement effect of the opening of high-speed rail on human capital misallocation is affected by knowledge spillover and industrial structure,and the improvement effect is more significant in regions with higher knowledge spillover level and better industrial structure.Thirdly,the analysis of the heterogeneity of the size of cities shows that the opening of high-speed rail has no obvious improvement effect on the human capital misallocation of large cities,but has significant improvement effect on the human capital misallocation of small and medium-sized cities;The analysis of the heterogeneity between the east and the central and western regions shows that the opening of high-speed rail can significantly improve the human capital misallocation of cities in the east and central and western regions,but the improvement effect is better for cities in the central and western regions.Finally,according to the research conclusions,this paper puts forward five policy recommendations:(1)China’s prefecture-level and above cities should give full play to the improvement effect of high-speed rail on human capital misallocation;(2)High-speed rail cities should promote the construction of knowledge stock level and improve the knowledge spillover level of cities;(3)High-speed rail cities should continue to promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure;(4)Small and medium-sized cities should make good use of the opportunities brought by the opening of high-speed rail to improve their comprehensive strength;(5)The central and western regions should take the construction of high-speed rail as the key work of economic development,and improve the efficiency of human capital allocation through the high-speed rail network.