This paper presents empirical work in investigating the
effect of high-speed railway’s impact on regional economic growth. The study
selects the major cities nationwide as its research objects and introduces
market potential indicator which varies with the reduction of railway travel
time. The total sample estimation’s result proves that
HSR’s effect on per capital GDP is negative, but it has a positive impact on
the population. When the samples are grouped to estimate, it proves that the
development of high-speed rail is conducive to the further rise of big cities,
but not to the development of small and mediumsized cities. For the areas where
HSR connects to a
network, HSR compresses space and time and promotes the cooperation or communication among cities. For
the areas where HSR is relatively backward, HSR increases its marginalization,
resulting in a negative impact. Therefore, it is believed that the development
of China’s HSR should pay attention to rational distribution, give more
consideration to backward areas, and promote the coordinated development of the
region.
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