Research On The Impact Of High-speed Rail On The Economic Spatial Pattern Of The Yangtze River Delta

The vast land area and the super-large domestic market provide a solid foundation for the construction of China’s “dual cycle” new development pattern.However,the super-large land area also brings about the real problem of uneven economic development between regions.In addition,there are still many obstacles to the free flow of China’s factors across regions,and endogenous growth momentum such as technological innovation still needs to be improved.These are major bottlenecks in the construction of a new development pattern.A complete,efficient,and interconnected transportation infrastructure system has important strategic significance for accelerating the free flow of factors across regions,accelerating inter-regional technology spillover effects and technological progress,and promoting coordinated development among regions.In addition,a complete transportation infrastructure system is an important support point for accelerating the construction of a new "dual cycle" development pattern.In this context,this article takes high-speed rail operations as the research object,selects the Yangtze River Delta region as the key research area,and explores the impact of high-speed rail operations on the economic spatial layout of the Yangtze River Delta from the perspective of population flow,urban innovation and economic growth.By combing the domestic and foreign literature on high-speed rail and population mobility,urban innovation and economic growth,it can be seen that foreign research on the economic effects of transportation infrastructure is earlier and mature,while domestic research has begun since the construction of China’s high-speed rail.At present,insufficient attention has been paid to the endogenous problems of high-speed rail stations in China and there is no creative solution.This paper uses the least-cost path method to improve the endogenous problems of transportation infrastructure.Secondly,domestic research on the high-speed rail economy mainly starts from the perspectives of land,housing prices and cities,while ignoring the role of high-speed rail passengers.There are still deficiencies in the construction of the theoretical framework and transmission mechanism of the high-speed rail for the economic spatial layout.Based on the perspective of high-speed rail passengers,this paper constructs a multi-regional economic space model and transmission mechanism after the introduction of high-speed rail,and then perfects the relevant theories of high-speed rail economy.Finally,the economic distribution effect of domestic transportation infrastructure is obviously lagging behind.This article uses the new night light data to explore the "agglomeration shadow" effect of the high-speed rail on the economic spatial layout.This paper uses multi-dimensional indicators to measure the economic spatial layout,in order of population flow,urban innovation and economic growth.First,this paper constructs a multi-regional economic space model that includes high-speed rail and economic space elements,and analyzes the transmission mechanism of high-speed rail affecting the economic space layout.Secondly,based on relevant economic theories,this paper uses cutting-edge research data and methods such as new night lighting data,DID models at different times,and instrumental variable methods to investigate the impact of high-speed rail operations on the economic spatial layout.Three aspects of population flow,urban innovation and economic growth.The main research conclusions of the paper are as follows.First,the high-speed rail are changing the spatial layout of population mobility.The high-speed rail has significantly accelerated the frequency of population movement in cities which via high-speed rail lines,and there are significant lag and pre-effects.In terms of city size,the opening of the high-speed rail has a siphonic effect on the population of medium-sized cities,while the megacities have improved their population absorption capacity by virtue of their comprehensive transportation facilities,and the population agglomeration effect has intensified.As far as the urban industrial structure is concerned,the opening of the high-speed rail has the greatest impact on the population flow of manufacturing and consumer services in the Yangtze River Delta.Finally,in terms of the distance between the city and the nearest high-speed rail station,the impact of high-speed rail on population mobility is within95 km,which confirms the advent of the "1 hour metropolitan area" in the era of high-speed rail.Through the analysis of the transmission mechanism,it is found that the high-speed rail mainly affects the flow of migrants through accessibility,market access,and improvement of urban wage levels and educational conditions.Based on the above conclusions,the Yangtze River Delta region must continue to improve the high-speed railway network,break administrative barriers,and maximize the cross-regional flow of human capital.In addition,it is necessary to actively give play to the subjective initiative of population mobility,and rationally guide the orderly flow of labor.This lays the foundation for the early realization of the Yangtze River Delta regional integration and the unimpeded regional circulation to lead the domestic economic cycle.Second,high-speed rail operations are changing the innovative spatial layout of the Yangtze River Delta region.The innovation level of the cities that the high-speed rail passes through has improved significantly.The opening of high-speed rail has a significant lag effect on urban innovation.In the era of Internet communication,"face-to-face communication is still necessary.Face-to-face communication and Internet communication tools complement each other in a significant way to promote urban innovation.For transportation means for high-tech talents to communicate face-to-face,high-skilled people are more willing to travel by high-speed rail during short-and medium-distance trips,while for longer distances,civil aviation occupies the main position.In addition,the city’s innovation factor endowment has a threshold effect on urban innovation,and a temperate innovation factor endowment is more conducive to increase the level of innovation.As far as the transmission mechanism is concerned,the opening of the high-speed rail has promoted the cross-regional flow of highly skilled talents,and knowledge spillovers have occurred through face-to-face exchanges,which has significantly improved the innovation level of the city.Moreover,the transmission effect of this mechanism is more obvious for innovative cities.This shows that improving the high-speed railways in the Yangtze River Delta area form a situation of interconnection,accelerating the orderly flow of innovation elements,and actively carrying out cooperation and exchanges between domestic and foreign universities and scientific research institutes are of great significance to accelerating the construction of the Yangtze River Delta collaborative innovation community.In addition,it is necessary to improve the cultivation of innovative talents,strengthen the incentive measures for high-skilled talents in an all-round way,and improve the cooperation and sharing mechanism platform in order to give full play to the advantages of agglomeration of innovative element resources and improve the level of urban innovation.Third,the operation of high-speed rail changes the spatial layout of economic growth in the Yangtze River Delta.This paper uses the more microscopic "new night light data" and two-dimensional GDP indicators to measure urban economic growth.The results show that cities with high-speed rail have brighter night lights and higher GDP levels.In addition,the opening of high-speed rail has a lagging effect on urban economic growth.The results show that the opening of high-speed rail has no significant effect on the economic growth of medium-sized cities,but has a significant effect on the economic growth of large cities,megacities and megacities,and its effect becomes more obvious as the city size increases.The opening of the high-speed rail has significantly improved the urban economy,which is dominated by the secondary and tertiary industries.From the perspective of the distance between the city and the high-speed rail station,cities within 225 km from the high-speed rail station may fall under the "agglomeration shadow" of the high-speed rail.Beyond this distance,the opening of the high-speed rail will have no negative impact on urban economic activities.High-speed rail improves the urban economic level mainly through labor agglomeration and technological innovation.Finally,the initial stage of the opening of high-speed rail is mainly manifested in widening the economic gap,and the "Matthew effect" is obvious.However,the high-speed rail will gradually narrow the regional economic gap,and the regional economy will show a trend of synergy or convergence.Therefore,in order to give full play to the role of the high-speed rail economy,the government should include the high-speed rail economic belt in the plan,and increase the attractiveness of talents and enhance the soft power of the economy.In addition,the " agglomeration shadow" effect should be considered in the high-speed railway planning,and the construction of transportation infrastructure should be strengthened to transform the " agglomeration shadow" into a sunny zone.The improvement of high-speed railways will help labor,capital,technology and other fields to break regional and hierarchical barriers,form a unified,orderly competitive and open market circulation system,and help boost economic growth.This research is helpful to open up the whole process chain of the new development pattern of "double cycle" and stimulate new momentum for high-quality development.In addition,it has important strategic significance for the early realization of the regional integration of the Yangtze River Delta,leading the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt,and providing a demonstration zone for the new development pattern of the "double cycle" across the country.