 Subways and scientists' productivity under the NSFC program: Evidence from ChinaXuan Leng, Yichuan Zhang and Jiaxin He Journal of Asian Economics, 2025, vol. 97, issue C Abstract: This study investigates the impact of subway openings in Chinese cities on scientists’ productivity. Using the data from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, a difference-in-differences method is employed to explore the causal relationship between search costs and scientists’ productivity. We find subway openings significantly increase scientist’s productivity, particularly in terms of the number of publications and its’ quality. Regarding the underlying mechanism, we show that scientific collaboration and talent attraction both contribute to productivity. Furthermore, heterogeneous analysis reveals that the impact of subway openings on productivity is more pronounced among Double First-Class universities, young scholars, and disciplines requiring frequent face-to-face communication. Additionally, this research integrates face-to-face communication via subway access with online communication through Broadband China construction into a comprehensive framework. The findings suggest that while both modes of communication boost the scientists’ publication quantity, but only face-to-face interaction improves its’ quality. Keywords: Subway; Search costs; Scientific collaboration; Scientists' productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:97:y:2025:i:c:s1049007825000247 DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101900 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Asian Economics is currently edited by C. Wiemer More articles in Journal of Asian Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.