China & World Economy / 44–65, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2019

High-speed Rail and Urban Economic Growth
in China after the Global Financial Crisis

Shujie Yao, Fan Zhang, Feng Wang, Jinghua Ou

Abstract

High-speed rail (HSR) has been an important driver of China’s economic expansion over the last decade. Using data of 285 prefecture-level cities over 2010–2014, this paper proposes an endogenous economic growth model to explain how and why HSR may have propelled China’s economic growth by reducing the time-space between cities. The research results show that HSR has a potent effect on urban economic growth and regional convergence. Ceteris paribus, HSR appears to have accelerated economic growth by more than 0.6 percent and the pace of regional economic convergence by approximately 2 percent per annum over the data period. Our research findings have important policy implications for the sustainability of China’s economic development, backed by HSR.

Key words: China, economic growth, high-speed rail, regional convergence
JEL codes: L92, O1, O18