交通基础设施改善能促进居民消费吗——来自高铁开通的证据

Can the Improvement of Transportation Infrastructure Promote Consumption of Residents?——Evidence From the Opening of High-Speed Rail

交通基础设施改善是促进商品流通、扩展消费空间、提振消费内需的重要推动力。将高铁开通作为“准自然实验”,基于我国2004~2018年地级市层面数据,通过双重差分法从消费支出、消费结构与消费率三个角度实证分析了交通基础设施改善对居民消费的促进效应。研究发现:第一,高铁开通有利于沿线城市消费支出增长、消费结构升级与消费率提升,且这一作用随着高铁站与市中心距离的延长而衰减;第二,高铁对居民消费的影响表现出显著的城市等级与区位异质性;第三,高铁可以通过时空压缩与市场一体化效应促进消费支出增长、消费结构升级与消费率提升。

The improvement of transportation infrastructure is an important driving force to promote commodity circulation,expand consumption space,and boost domestic consumption.Regarding the opening of high-speed rail as a“quasi-natural experiment”,based on China's 2004~2018 data of the prefecture-level cities,an empirical analysis of the effect about the improving of transportation infrastructure on promoting consumer consumption from the perspectives of consumption expenditure,consumption structure and consumption rate through the double difference method.The study found that:firstly,the opening of high-speed rail is conducive to the growth of consumption expenditure,the upgrading of consumption structure and the increase of consumption rate in the cities along the railway,and this effect decreases as the distance between high-speed rail stations and the city center increases;secondly,the impact of high-speed rail on residents'consumption shows significant urban hierarchical and location heterogeneity;thirdly,high-speed rail can promote consumption expenditure growth,consumption structure upgrading and consumption rate improvement through the space-time compression effect and market integration effect.