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Transport infrastructure and industrial agglomeration: Evidence from manufacturing industries in China

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  • Liu, Zheming
  • Zeng, Saixing
  • Jin, Zhizhou
  • Shi, Jonathan Jingsheng

Abstract

The determinants of industrial agglomeration have attracted worldwide attention as a research topic since the 1990s; however, there is still some divergence of opinion on the relationship between transport infrastructure and industrial agglomeration. To reconcile these divergent views, we take highways as a typical example of transport infrastructure and undertake an empirical examination based on a sample of 1,660,551 observations of Chinese manufacturing firms covering the period 1998 to 2007. The findings confirm that highway improvement has a positive impact on industrial agglomeration as a whole. We also find that the impact is heterogeneous across industry groups: improvement in the highway network positively affects the agglomeration of non-locally based industries and relationship industries but negatively affects the agglomeration of locally based industries and non-relationship industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Zheming & Zeng, Saixing & Jin, Zhizhou & Shi, Jonathan Jingsheng, 2022. "Transport infrastructure and industrial agglomeration: Evidence from manufacturing industries in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 100-112.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:121:y:2022:i:c:p:100-112
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2022.04.001
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