Deichmann, UweRoberts, MarkFingleton, BernardShi, Tuo2012-03-192012-03-192010-11-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3961Over the past two decades, China has embarked on an ambitious program of expressway network expansion. By facilitating market integration, this program aims both to promote efficiency at the national level and to contribute to the catch-up of lagging inland regions with prosperous Eastern ones. This paper evaluates the aggregate and spatial economic impacts of China's newly constructed National Expressway Network, focussing, in particular, on its short-run impacts. To achieve this aim, the authors adopt a counterfactual approach based on the estimation and simulation of a structural "new economic geography" model. Overall, they find that aggregate Chinese real income was approximately 6 percent higher than it would have been in 2007 had the expressway network not been built. Although there is considerable heterogeneity in the results, the authors do not find evidence of a significant reduction in disparities across prefectural level regions or of a reduction in urban-rural disparities. If anything, the expressway network appears to have reinforced existing patterns of spatial inequality, although, over time, these will likely be reduced by enhanced migration.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETSACCIDENTSACCOUNTINGADMINISTRATIVE REGIONAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTSAIRANALYSIS OF VARIANCEARBITRAGEARTERIESAUTONOMOUS REGIONSBILATERAL TRADECITY STREETSCLOSED ECONOMYCOASTAL REGIONSCOMPETITIVENESSCONGESTIONCONGESTION COSTSCONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALECONSTRUCTIONCONSTRUCTION WORKERSCONSUMERSCOST BENEFIT ANALYSISCOST FUNCTIONSCOST OF TRANSPORTATIONCOSTS OF TRANSPORTATIONDESIGN SPEEDDEVELOPMENT STRATEGYDISPOSABLE INCOMEECONOMETRICSECONOMIC GEOGRAPHYECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC OUTCOMESECONOMIC STRUCTUREECONOMICS LITERATUREECONOMIES OF SCALEEFFICIENCY OF LABORELASTICITIESELASTICITYELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTIONEMPLOYMENTENDOGENOUS VARIABLESEQUATIONSEQUILIBRIUMETHNIC MINORITYEXPORTSEXPRESSWAYSEXTERNALITIESFRAMEWORKFREIGHTFREIGHT TRANSPORTFUNCTIONAL FORMSFUTURE RESEARCHGDPGDP PER CAPITAGENERAL EQUILIBRIUMGROWTH RATEHAULAGEHIGHWAYHIGHWAY INVESTMENTSHIGHWAY NETWORKHIGHWAYSHOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOMEHOUSINGHUMAN CAPITALINCOME GAINSINCOME LEVELSINCOME TAXINCREASING RETURNSINCREASING RETURNS TO SCALEINFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTINFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTSINLAND REGIONSINTERNATIONAL PORTSINTERREGIONAL TRANSPORTINTERSTATE HIGHWAYINTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEMINVENTORIESLABOR EFFICIENCYLABOR MOBILITYLAGGING REGIONSMARGINAL BENEFITSMARGINAL COSTSMOBILITYMOBILITY OF LABORMONOPOLISTIC COMPETITIONMULTIPLE EQUILIBRIANET INCOMENOMINAL INCOMENOMINAL WAGESOPPORTUNITY COSTPAVEMENTPECUNIARY EXTERNALITIESPER CAPITA INCOMEPERFECT COMPETITIONPOSITIVE EXTERNALITIESPRICE CHANGESPRICE LEVELSPRODUCT DIFFERENTIATIONPRODUCTION FUNCTIONSPRODUCTION SIDEPRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY GROWTHPROFIT MAXIMIZATIONQUALITY OF TRANSPORTRAILRAIL PROJECTSREAL INCOMEREAL WAGESREGIONAL DISPARITIESREGIONAL INPUTREMOTE AREASREMOTE RURAL AREASROADROAD INFORMATIONROAD INVESTMENTSROAD NETWORKROAD NETWORKSROAD SYSTEMROAD TYPEROAD TYPESROUTEROUTESRURAL AREARURAL AREASRURAL DISPARITIESRURAL ECONOMYRURAL EMPLOYMENTRURAL HOUSEHOLDRURAL HOUSEHOLDSRURAL INCOMERURAL INEQUALITIESRURAL LABORRURAL POPULATIONRURAL PRODUCTIONRURAL SECTORRURAL SECTORSRURAL TRANSPORTRURAL WAGESSATURATIONSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTSPATIAL DISPERSIONSPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONSPATIAL INEQUALITYSTATISTICAL ANALYSISSUB-REGIONSTOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITYTRAFFICTRANSPORTTRANSPORT COST SAVINGSTRANSPORT COSTSTRANSPORT ECONOMICSTRANSPORT INDUSTRYTRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURETRANSPORT INVESTMENTTRANSPORT INVESTMENTSTRANSPORT MARKETTRANSPORT NETWORKTRANSPORT PROJECTSTRANSPORT SECTORTRANSPORT SPECIALISTSTRANSPORT TECHNOLOGYTRAVEL SPEEDTRAVEL TIMETRAVEL TIMESTRUCKINGTRUEURBAN WORKERSUTILITY FUNCTIONSVEHICLEVEHICLE OPERATINGVEHICLE OPERATING COSTSWAGE DIFFERENTIALSWAGE DISPARITIESWAGE GROWTHWAGE INCREASESWAGESWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5479