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Behavioural Sciences ︱ Dr Yiming He The effect of intercity high- speed-rail project on regional economic development: Evidence from a natural experiment in ,

The Chinese mainland launched ince its launch, the Chinese economic development. Dr Yiming its first high-speed rail line high-speed rail line has seen He and colleagues investigated the in 2009, which has continued Sextensive development. Seven economic performance and the migration to rapidly develop. Following years after it opened, the operating of 24 in Zhongshan, an area Zhongshan Railway Station. the popularisation of the high- mileage of the railway reached 23,600 which is part of the - Photo credit: T88288 on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) speed railway and improvement km. Such developments have been city rail route and was directly affected of related construction particularly significant in by railway developments. technologies, the manufacturing Province, one of the most densely time cost remains consistent, the price of Electrical populated provinces in , TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE of the product rises with the market scale Dr Yiming He’s research showed that the (EMU) trains has also increased. where the Guangdong Province high AND ECONOMIC GROWTH enlargement and thus the local economy These trains can encourage speed railway density has reached Previous research has demonstrated will also rise. The third proposition is that setting of a railway station significantly the flow of people along the 0.83 km per hundred square kilometre. that transport infrastructure has a direct the difference between the equilibrium increased the GDP of the province. route and promote economic Developments have also included impact on economic growth rates. The yield of the same area of transportation exchanges, which may have increased construction of Electrical improvement in transport infrastructure time cost and the equilibrium income are areas affected by the rail project and in a particular area is thus not entirely a significant impact on regional Multiple Unit (EMU) trains. Three EMU positively influences both economic of the manufacturer are greater than the control group are areas unaffected. determined by the level of economic economic development. Dr lines have been built in the Guangdong output and population migration. Based the difference in transportation time cost. development. This means that the Yiming He, from the South Province: the Guangzhou- city upon this knowledge, Dr Yiming He The fourth proposition is that when the Due to the high construction cost, investigation of the impact of the intercity China Agricultural University, rail transit, the Guangzhou-Zhuhai city developed four propositions to determine train line is opened, the regional economy the planning and construction of the high-speed-rail project is defined investigated the impact of rail transit and the Guangzhou-- how the Guangzhou-Zhuhai city rail transit and market scale will be increased, intercity railway line is coordinated by as ‘quasi-experimental’. the Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity high-speed-rail project on city rail transit, with more affected 24 counties in Zhongshan. along with the regional division of labour the national or provincial government. local economic performance lines planned for the future. Due to the and the optimisation of the train line, The setting and route of the railway THE RAIL PROJECT AND and migration in Zhongshan. convenience and low cost of EMU trains, The first of these propositions is that which shortens the transportation time. line take into consideration potential ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT they are an effective way to promote if the two regional economies are This results in more frequent journeys economic benefits, regional development GDP is one of the most important the flow of people along the rail route heterogeneous and the time spent and thus GDP will rise. balance, line distance, terrain conditions, indicators to measure economic as well as economic exchanges. Both in traffic is shortened, regional resource construction difficulty as well as other development. It is affected by both of these factors may play an important allocation should be optimised and USING A ‘DIFFERENCES IN factors. The decision to build a station the size of the population and the size role in impacting regional the development scale of the economy DIFFERENCES’ MODEL should be expanded, leading to improved Dr Yiming He tested these four economic growth. If the two regional propositions using a Differences economies are homogeneous and in Differences (DID) model. This is the cost of transit time (the time spent in a statistical technique which attempts traffic) is also shortened, the competition to mimic an experimental research between economies is aggravated and if design using observational study data. the appropriate market size is maintained, It investigates the differential effect resources will not be skewed, which also of a treatment on a ‘treatment group’ serves to benefit economic growth. (who receive the treatment) versus Regional development tends to a ‘control group’ (who receive no be unbalanced in China because treatment). This is achieved by comparing of the different resource allocations the average change over time in the and the nature of government outcome variable for the treatment policies in China. group to the average change over time for the control group. In this research, The second proposition is that the treatment is the rail project and G39 to East. CRH1A in Guangzhou South. Photo credit: N509FZ on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) if the opening of the train line shortens the outcomes are economic performance Photo credit: T88288 on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) transportation time, the transportation and migration. The treatment group

www.researchfeatures.com www.researchfeatures.com of the investment. The Guangdong Province has the largest imported labour force in mainland China and a large Behind the Research proportion of the population are non- native permanent residents. In Zhongshan city, which is located in the Dr Yiming He Delta region, permanent residents of the population accounted for less than 50% E: [email protected] T: 13802415862 W: www.scau.edu.cn/ W: http://yjsglxt.scau.edu.cn/ of the total population between 2010 open/WxTkss/TeacherInfo.aspx?jsbh=30003520&nd=2018&yxsh=090 W: http://cem.scau.edu.cn/ and 2015. However, as a result of the teacher/list/ET/prof/2018/0507/1271.html current household registration system, the household registration population Research Objectives is markedly different from the immigrant population in terms of real estate Dr He’s work focuses on regional economic development in China. investment, education and labour quality.

Dr Yiming He’s research showed that Detail the setting of a railway station significantly increased the GDP of the province. It Dr Yiming He Program of the national youth talent Funding Railway Station Platform. was particularly favourable for the more Room 1901, support project, national natural science This work was supported by National Ten Photo credit: T88288 on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) No. 2 Yadun Street, twice, national social science three times, Thousand Outstanding Young Scholar developed areas of the province, such Dongxiao Road, and China Scholarship Council visiting Program (Grant Number: W02070352) as Guangzhou. Interestingly, the effect Haizhu , scholar program. He has published as well as Key Project of National Natural of the total registered population on Guangzhou, more than eighty papers on Man and Science Foundation in China, (Grant GDP was not found to be significant. This The opening of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Guangdong Province, the Economy and Energy Economics. Number: 71333004; 71742003) demonstrates that the total registered intercity rail line was associated with an China (postal code: 510230) Dr Yiming He is also the Ronald Coase population has little impact on the Institute Young Fellow, Kong Collaborators overall output of Zhongshan city, a annual increase of around 1028 residents. Bio Baptism University Adjunct Researcher •  Huang region characterised by a large influx Dr He is a Agriculture and The University of Texas visiting • Weikun Zhang of immigrants which is not fully reflected economic and social development of the CONCLUSIONS University Phd, Professor and Phd Professor. • Meng in the household register. area. Dr Yiming He found that migration The development of EMU railway lines Advisor, who won the Ten Thousand in the province of Zhongshan was will continue to form an important role THE RAIL PROJECT significantly affected by the rail project. in the construction of infrastructure for AND MIGRATION The areas used to build EMU train lines a long period of time. The construction Personal Response The construction of intercity rail lines were much more attractive to future of these railway lines requires a large References improves the traffic in the area, which residents than other areas in the region. amount of initial funding and involves increases the attractiveness of the area The opening of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai navigating a range of issues, such as land He, Y. The Effect of Intercity high-speed-rail project on How do you foresee future railway developments in to new residents and thus affects the trend intercity rail line was associated with an expropriation and noise created in areas Regional Economic Development: Evidence from a Natural China impacting migration and economic development? of population change. This population annual increase of around 1028 residents. along the railway lines. However, these Experiment of Zhongshan, China This project will further expand the regional economic change subsequently influences both railway lines play a significant role in development gap and drive up migration. promoting both economic development and migration. Studying the influence of the construction of the intercity train line is thus of great importance.

Based on Dr Yiming He’s research, it is clear that the opening of an intercity rail line is conducive to the migration of people from other areas to the area along the rail line, increasing the population agglomeration in the area and promoting economic growth in the region. However, the research also highlighted that the areas in the region are affected differently, with more developed areas experiencing greater economic benefits. This means that railway developments may further increase the economic gap between G1 to -Hongqiao. Photo credit: N509FZ on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) the most and least developed areas CRH2 EMU at Xi’an, near Anyuan Gate. of a province. Photo credit: Jucember on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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