An Empirical Study with DID Model for the Impact of Lanzhou-Xinjiang HSR on Regional Economic Growth

By using Difference-in-differences (DID) model, this study empirically analyses the economic data of all cities in Gansu and Qinghai provinces of China from 2011-2018 to verify the impact of the opening of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang highspeed railway (Lan-Xin HSR) on the economic growth of cities along the line.Further regression is conducted to analysis the specific impact mechanism around the urbanization rate, industrial structure and urban-rural gap.The key finding is that the opening of the Lan-Xin HSR has heterogeneous impacts in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces: It promotes the economic growth of Qinghai province, while it has a negative impact in Gansu province.Mechanism analysis reveals that 1) the opening of Lan-Xin HSR has promoted urbanization level in both Gansu and Qinghai provinces; 2) it has promoted the development of secondary industry in Gansu province, while the promotion of tertiary industry in Qinghai province is more obvious; 3) it has narrowed the urban-rural gap within Qinghai province, but it has increased that within Gansu province to some extent.This paper makes up for the lack of study on the HSRs in less developed areas such as western regions in China and provides references for relevant policy adjustments.