Research On The Impact Of Urban Accessibility On Urban Residents’ Consumption Upgrading

Consumption is the "ballast" of China’s stable economy and the "main force" driving economic growth.At the seventh meeting of the Central Finance and Economics Commission,General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that we should firmly implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand and give full play to the role of consumption as an important engine for economic growth.China has become the world’s largest consumer market,with a middle-income group of 400 million people.China’s consumption development is showing an upgrading trend and is in a critical period of consumption upgrading.In the face of the new trend of consumption upgrading,it is necessary to find the source of power for consumption upgrading,driven by the strategic policy of expanding domestic demand,and continuously expand the proportion of high-quality,service-oriented consumption,so that the consumer structure of the residents can maintain a continuous upgrading trend and enha nce the people’s sense of access and satisfaction in the process of realising the needs for a better life.The layout of the urban transport network is related to the number of consumer goods,the scale of the consumer market and the consumer’s experience.This has a significant impact on both basic consumer goods and high quality related services.Therefore,studying the impact of urban accessibility on consumption upgrading of urban residents can explore the consumption effects of transport development,which is important for finding the entry point for expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption,and promoting the expansion and quality of consumption.On the basis of combing the relevant literature and classical theories on consumption upgrading and urban accessibility,this paper proposes the possible influence mechanism of urban accessibility on urban residents’ consumption upgrading,and presents the current situation of urban residents’ consumption based on the aggregate level of consumption expenditure and indicators representing changes in consumption structure to clarify that urban residents in China are in a consumption upgrading trend,and then uses urban panel data from2014-2019 as the research Then,using the urban panel data from 2014 to 2019 as the sample,we construct indicators of urban accessibility and urban residents’ consumption upgrading,and use the two-way fixed-effects model,the mediating-effects model and the panel threshold model to conduct empirical tests,forming the main findings of this paper: First,urban accessibility has a significant role in promoting urban residents’ consumption upgrading.Secondly,the impact of urban accessibility on urban residents’ consumption upgrading is heterogeneous in terms of urban area,with a significant impact on the eastern and western regions;heterogeneous in terms of urban population size,with a significant contribution to both large and medium-sized cities and non-large and medium-sized cities;and heterogeneous in terms of urban functional location,with a significantly stronger impact on distribution node cities than non-distribution node cities.Thirdly,the increase in urban accessibility can indirectly promote the upgrading of urban residents’ consumption,partly through the increase in urbanisation rate and economic development level.Fourth,based on different levels of economic development and income levels,the impact of urban accessibility on urban residents’ consumption upgrading has a single and double threshold effect respectively,i.e.to achieve a smooth and sustainable consumption upgrading,it is necessary to cultivate new consumption growth points and promote the realisation of a double threshold crossing of residents’ income.Based on the above findings,in order to further unleash the consumption-enhancing effects of transport construction,to promote consumption upgrading and to realise precise measures,this paper makes the following recommendations: Firstly,to continue to optimise the layout of urban transport networks and to vigorously develop infrastructure construction that fully matches people’s demand for consumption upgrading,so that cities can share the consumption dividends brought by improved accessibility.Secondly,the construction of an internationa l consumption centre in the central region should be carried out to create a "leader" in the field of consumption in the central region,so as to expand the international perspective of the cities in the central region and make consumption a new engine for the rise of the central region.Thirdly,we will promote cross-industry integration in the transportation sector and actively cultivate new consumption growth points.Grasp the trend of consumption upgrading,integrate the tourism and sports industry,information industry,new energy industry and other emerging industries with the transportation industry,cultivate new modes of transportation consumption,and develop healthy consumption,digital consumption and green consumption.Fourth,accelerate the expansion of the size of the middle-income group in the new urbanisation process.Stabilising and expanding employment and raising incomes will make the trend of consumption upgrading irreversible.Accelerate the real growth of per capita disposable income an d economic growth to basically synchronise,and ensure the income stability of those in flexible employment.