The Impact of Opening a High-Speed Railway on Urban Innovation: A Comparative Perspective of Traditional Innovation and Green Innovation

Chang Ma, Kehu Tan () and Jiangye He
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Chang Ma: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Kehu Tan: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Jiangye He: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-24

Abstract: Transportation infrastructure is essential to regional innovation systems, and the high-speed railway (HSR) is reshaping China’s regional innovation pattern. Previous research lacks an analysis of the impact of opening an HSR on urban traditional and green innovation. This paper uses urban panel data from 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019 to study the impact and mechanism of opening an HSR on urban innovation from a comparative perspective. The results of a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model show that opening an HSR can promote both traditional and green urban innovation, especially impacting urban green innovation. A further analysis of the mechanism of action found that high-quality talent and communication infrastructures are two crucial mechanisms of transmission for the opening of an HSR to affect urban innovation. In addition, heterogeneity analysis showed that opening an HSR promotes traditional urban and green innovation for cities in general. However, for central cities, the opening of an HSR has no significant impact on green innovation and has little effect on promoting traditional innovation. The policy inspiration of this paper is that, in the face of an innovation gap and the inequality of regional innovation and development, the construction of HSRs should be promoted according to local conditions. Construction and layout resources should be shifted from central cities to general cities to narrow the regional innovation gap. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the roles of the flow of high-quality talent and communication infrastructure in promoting urban innovation and sustainable urban development.

Keywords: high-speed railway (HSR); traditional innovation; green innovation; multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:9:p:1671-:d:1226276

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