Does investment in national highways help or hurt hinterland city growth?

Nathaniel Baum-Snow, J. Vernon Henderson, Matthew Turner and Loren Brandt ()

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We investigate the effects of the recently constructed Chinese national highway system on local economic outcomes. On average, roads that improve access to local markets have small or negative effects on prefecture economic activity and population. However, these averages mask a distinct pattern of winners and losers. With better regional highways, economic output and population increase in regional primates at the expense of hinterland prefectures. Highways also affect patterns of specialization. With better regional highways, regional primates specialize more in manufacturing and services, while peripheral areas lose manufacturing but gain in agriculture. Better access to international ports promotes greater population, GDP, and private sector wages on average, effects that are probably larger in hinterland than primate prefectures. An important policy implication is that investing in local transport infrastructure to promote growth of hinterland prefectures has the opposite effect, causing them to specialize more in agriculture and lose economic activity.

Keywords: transportation; urban growth; economic geography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Q15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2020-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (69)

Published in Journal of Urban Economics, 1, January, 2020, 115. ISSN: 0094-1190

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/88087/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Does investment in national highways help or hurt hinterland city growth? (2020)
Working Paper: Does Investment in National Highways Help or Hurt Hinterland City Growth? (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:88087

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