Regional Heterogeneity Of The Impact Of China’s High-speed Rail Opening On Total Factor Productivity

Since the opening of China’s first high-speed rail in 2003,China’s high-speed rail construction has achieved rapid development.As of the end of 2020,the total mileage of China’s high-speed rail has exceeded 38,000 kilometers,ranking first in the world.The opening of the high-speed rail shortens the time and space distance of the region,improves the accessibility of the city,speeds up the free flow of production factors across regions,and improves the economic efficiency of the city.However,existing studies have not yet reached a consensus on the impact of high-speed rail on total factor productivity,as to whether the aggregation effect or the diffusion effect is dominant in different regions.The reasonable planning of high-speed rail not only has a significant impact on high-quality economic development,but is also vital to the coordinated development of the region.In response to the above problems,this article firstly studies the mechanism of the impact of high-speed rail on total factor productivity from the agglomeration effect and diffusion effect.Secondly,it uses data envelopment analysis(DEA)to measure the total factor productivity of 283 prefecture-level and above cities in China;further The prefecture-level cities are divided according to geographical location and population size,and the continuous-time double difference method(DID)is used to study the regional heterogeneity of the impact of high-speed rail on total factor productivity.In order to prove the validity of the double difference method,this article uses the "event analysis method" to test the common trend.In addition,this article introduces the interaction terms of high-speed rail and aviation to empirically study whether there is a co-opetition relationship between the effects of aviation and high-speed rail on total factor productivity.This article has two major innovations.From the perspective of research,this article focuses on the regional heterogeneity of the impact of high-speed rail on total factor productivity;in terms of research content,this article examines the impact of the substitution effect of high-speed rail and aviation on total factor productivity.The research conclusions are as follows.First,from 2003 to 2016,China’s total factor productivity showed a "U"-shaped change.From a regional perspective,the total factor productivity of the east is greater than that of the western and central regions,and the total factor productivity of megacities and megacities Larger than large cities and small and medium-sized cities.Second,the opening of the high-speed rail has a significant positive impact on total factor productivity,and also has a significant positive impact on the pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency of its split items.At the same time,the impact of high-speed rail on total factor productivity has a three-period lag effect.Thirdly,High-speed rail has regional heterogeneity in its impact on total factor productivity.High-speed rail has a positive impact on total factor productivity in the eastern,central and western regions.However,high-speed rail has the most obvious increase in total factor productivity in the western region,followed by the central region,and finally It is the east.The positive impact of high-speed rail on the total factor productivity of large cities and small and medium-sized cities is significantly greater than that of megacities and megacities.Fourth,the opening of aviation has promoted the impact of high-speed rail on total factor productivity.The opening of aviation has regional heterogeneity in the impact of high-speed rail on total factor productivity.For the central region,the impact of aviation and high-speed rail on total factor productivity is complementary,and for the eastern region,the impact of aviation and high-speed rail on total factor productivity is competitive.