Research On The Influence Of Transportation Infrastructure On Income Gap Between Urban And Rural Areas In China

In the nearly four decades of reform and opening up,China's economy has experienced rapid,steady,and sustained growth.However,while the total economic output has grown steadily,the income gap in China has continued to expand.According to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics,China's Gini coefficient has remained at a level above 0.4 for a long period of time,which is among the larger income gaps.The problem of unequal distribution of income has become the root cause of various contradictions in China's current society.The income gap between urban and rural areas is the key to income inequality in China.At the same time,the transportation industry is also developing rapidly.Existing scholars have demonstrated the economic growth of transport infrastructure in both theoretical and empirical aspects.The rapid development of transportation infrastructure will also reduce transportation costs and promote the flow of labor force.Therefore,this article is studied on the urban-rural income gap from the perspective of transportation infrastructure.The paper is based on the above background.Based on the domestic and foreign literatures summarizing the existing transportation infrastructure and income gaps,the current situation of China's transportation infrastructure and income gaps are analyzed and described.It can be seen that China's transportation infrastructure is not balanced and the income gap between urban and rural areas is serious.Through the theory of economic growth,income gap theory,and the theory of new economic geography,the relationship between transport infrastructure and urban-rural income gap is analyzed;the spatial correlation of urban-rural income gap is tested,and finally 1997-2016 is used.In the provincial panel data of the year,spatial econometric models were constructed for the entire country,the eastern part,the central part,and the western part,to analyze the relationship between the transportation infrastructure and the urban-rural income gap.Research shows that transport infrastructure will have a certain impact on the income gap between urban and rural areas.This will not only affect the local urban-rural income gap,but also have a spillover effect on urban-rural income gaps in other regions,but the direct effect on local areas is greater than on other regions.The spillover effect,and the impact of different transportation infrastructures on the income gap between urban and rural areas are different.According to the national analysis,the construction of highways and inland waterways has a significant impact on the income gap and will narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas;the degree of impact on different regions There are also differences,of which the construction of railways and inland waterways in the eastern region has a positive effect on narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas.The three types of transport infrastructure in the central region have a negative spillover effect on the urban-rural income gap.The construction of roads in the western region will narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas.Based on this,we propose corresponding policies for the investment and construction of China's transportation infrastructure,so that the construction of transportation infrastructure can promote the balance between efficiency and fairness.