Spatial Spillover Effect Of Infrastructure Development On Economic Growth In "The Belt And Road"

Since the reform and opening-up,China's economic development has attracted the attention of the world.GDP has increased rapidly with an annual growth rate of over 9%,became the World's second largest economy in 2013,the "Belt and Road" strategy has brought a new opportunity for the development of our country.The economy could only develop;if the infrastructures go first.Without the support of good infrastructures,it will be difficult to safeguard the strengthening of the domestic and foreign trade cooperation."Belt and Road" strategy,as a regional integration strategy,pursues the common development of the whole,rather than a sole development one region.Therefore,in order to study the effect of the infrastructure construction in the closely connected areas along "Belt and Road" on the surrounding areas and on the whole of "Belt and Road”,we need to consider the spatial factors.In recent years,The rapid development of geographical economics and spatial econometrics provides a theoretical basis for the study of spatial problems.In the existing research papers,insufficient attention has been paid to the spatial effects of infrastructure and economic growth,and most of them focus on transportation infrastructure,less on information and energy infrastructure.This paper selects panel data from 17 key provinces,municipalities and autonomous regions along "Belt and Road" from 2001 to 2016.(except Tibet).According to geographic adjacent spatial weight matrix and economic distance spatial weight matrix,the spatial effects of transportation,communication and energy economic infrastructure and economic growth were studied using spatial metrological model.Using the Spatial Durbin Model(SDM),The economical effects of infrastructures are further decomposed.The empirical results has shown that:In the study of the impact of infrastructure on economic growth,if the spatial factors are ignored,the effect of infrastructure on economic growth will be overestimated or underestimated to a certain extent.Whether based on geographical adjacent spatial weight matrix or economic distance spatial weight matrix,under the fixed effect Spatial Durbin Model,the development of traffic and communication infrastructure in "Belt and Road" has a significant impact on the province's economic growth served as a positive direct effect,as long as a negative spillover effect on the economic growth of other provinces,which indicates that the transportation and communication infrastructure is competitive in space.However,the development of energy infrastructure can promote the economic growth of the province and other provinces as well,showing positive direct effect and positive spillover effect.From the total effect point of view,the overall effect of transportation,communication and energy infrastructure on economic growth is positive,that is to say,the improvement of traffic,communication and energy infrastructure of "Belt and Road" has a positive effect on the overall economic growth of the region.Based on the analysis of the current situation of transportation,communication and energy infrastructure along Belt and Road in China,and the above conclusions,this paper fully considers the spatial spillover effect of infrastructures and puts forward some suggestions on how to properly distribute infrastructure to attain a coordinated development of the "Belt and Road" regions.