Study On The Influence Of High-speed Railway Opening On Export Technical Complexity

Since the reform and opening up,especially after the accession to WTO in 2001,China’s export trade has been expanding rapidly and its share in the world export market has been increasing by virtue of its latecomer advantage.At the same time,the emergence of high-speed railroad has provided a strong impetus for China’s economic growth and a strategic opportunity for export trade.2008 saw the construction of China’s first railroad,the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway,and since then,China’s high-speed railroad construction has been on the fast track of development.By the end of 2021,China will have 40,000 km of high-speed railroads in operation,accounting for more than two-thirds of the world’s total,making it the world’s largest high-speed railroad country.The construction of high-speed railroads shortens the commuting time between different cities and reduces the cost of inter-city and interregional mobility of production factors such as people,capital and information,thus expanding the choice of production factors,enhancing the attractiveness of cities and bringing development opportunities for local enterprises.This paper explores the causal relationship and the inner mechanism between the opening of high-speed rail and the increase of export technology complexity,which can not only enrich and improve the research related to the impact of high-speed rail on economic development,but also expand the application of high-speed rail in the field of export trade.Based on the panel data of Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2005-2016,this paper investigates the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on the technical complexity of exports and its mechanism.The results show that the opening of highspeed rail effectively promotes the enhancement of export technical complexity,and the regression results remain valid after a series of robustness tests.This enhancement effect is mainly generated by promoting the free flow of information and human capital between regions.Heterogeneity analysis shows that the opening of high-speed rail has a greater impact on the eastern and central regions compared to the western region.At the same time,it promotes coordinated export upgrading in small and medium-sized cities and large cities,and low-tech industries are significantly upgraded by the opening of HSR.Further analysis reveals that the export upgrading effect of HSR has obvious geographical circle and spatial spillover characteristics.On the one hand,there is a "siphon effect" within 100 km from the central city,while there is a "diffusion effect" within 100-200 km.On the other hand,there is a spatial spillover effect of high-speed rail,which greatly contributes to the technological complexity of exports from the surrounding areas.Based on the above research results,this paper puts forward relevant policy recommendations.Firstly,we should seize the opportunities brought by high-speed railway to enhance the competitiveness of export trade.Secondly,the high-speed railway network should be reasonably allocated from a global perspective to promote coordinated development among regions.Thirdly,we should increase investment in innovation and improve innovation capacity.In addition,the advantages of high-speed rail should be fully utilized to accelerate industrial clustering and promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure.Finally,attention should be paid to developing the international market and accelerating the pace of high-speed rail "going out".