Does the expansion of a motorway network lead to economic agglomeration? Evidence from China

Nannan Yu, Gert de Roo, Martin de Jong and Servaas Storm

Transport Policy, 2016, vol. 45, issue C, 218-227

Abstract: In contrast to most existing studies examining the generative effects of transport infrastructure, this paper addresses the distributive effects of transport infrastructure in China. Using panel data from 274 Chinese municipalities in the 2000–2010 period, our study explores the role of motorway network in the evolution of spatial economic agglomerations. Our results confirm the existence of a distributive effect of road infrastructure in China, and show that an improvement in the motorway network leads to a higher degree of geographic concentration of economic activities. However, in our simulation new motorway construction appears to facilitate spatial dispersal when transport costs fall below a critical level. Moreover, the improved road network has led to a loss of industry in China's lagging areas. Accordingly, current transport investment policy, especially in lagging western areas, has not contributed to spatial equity in China, which contrasts with investment in education, for example.

Keywords: Motorway network; Distributive effect; Geographic agglomeration; Spatial inequity; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X15000517
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:trapol:v:45:y:2016:i:c:p:218-227

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2015.03.014

Access Statistics for this article

Transport Policy is currently edited by Y. Hayashi

More articles in Transport Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().