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Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Growth in China: A Meta-analysis

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Book cover Socioeconomic Environmental Policies and Evaluations in Regional Science

Part of the book series: New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives ((NFRSASIPER,volume 24))

Abstract

Transportation infrastructure has experienced a rapid development in China over the past decade. Although the economic contribution of transportation infrastructure has been widely examined in the literature using various data and approaches, the understanding remains unsatisfactory as the economic output elasticities for transportation are found to vary substantially across different studies. Our study improves the understanding of the linkages between transportation infrastructure and economic growth with a focus on China using a meta-analysis. Through a statistical analysis of 133 estimates from 18 empirical studies, our results find that the average output elasticity of the Chinese transportation system is 0.13. Variations in earlier estimates were found to be due to the different dependent variables, transportation variables, control variables, data, and models being used. Although the results are generally consistent with previous studies based on different survey samples, some unique characteristics of the Chinese economy and its transportation system are found to play a significant role. These should be considered carefully and suggest interpretive cautious in future research endeavors.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The interpretation of the coefficient of a dummy variable was converted using exp(0.09)−1. Same applies to the interpretations of the rest of dummy variable coefficients.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California, 322RTH, 3710 McClintock Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Zhenhua Chen

  2. School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22201, USA

    Kingsley E. Haynes

Authors
  1. Zhenhua Chen
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  2. Kingsley E. Haynes
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Correspondence to Zhenhua Chen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan

    Hiroyuki Shibusawa

  2. Rissho University , Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsuhiro Sakurai

  3. University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Takeshi Mizunoya

  4. College of Agriculture, Ibaraki University, Inashiki, Ibaraki, Japan

    Susumu Uchida

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Chen, Z., Haynes, K.E. (2017). Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Growth in China: A Meta-analysis. In: Shibusawa, H., Sakurai, K., Mizunoya, T., Uchida, S. (eds) Socioeconomic Environmental Policies and Evaluations in Regional Science. New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives, vol 24. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0099-7_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0099-7_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0097-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0099-7

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

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