IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/juecon/v143y2024ics0094119024000615.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The spatial impacts of a massive rail disinvestment program: The Beeching Axe

Author

Listed:
  • Gibbons, Stephen
  • Heblich, Stephan
  • Pinchbeck, Edward W.

Abstract

This paper investigates the reversibility of the effects of transport infrastructure investments, based on a programme that removed much of the rail network in Britain during the mid-20th century. We find that a 10% loss in rail access between 1950 and 1980 caused a persistent 3% decline in local population relative to unaffected areas, implying that the 1 in 5 places most exposed to the cuts saw 24 percentage points less population growth than the 1 in 5 places that were least exposed. The cuts reduced local jobs and shares of skilled workers and young people.

Suggested Citation

  • Gibbons, Stephen & Heblich, Stephan & Pinchbeck, Edward W., 2024. "The spatial impacts of a massive rail disinvestment program: The Beeching Axe," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:143:y:2024:i:c:s0094119024000615
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2024.103691
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119024000615
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jue.2024.103691?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephan Heblich & Stephen J Redding & Daniel M Sturm, 2020. "The Making of the Modern Metropolis: Evidence from London," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2059-2133.
    2. Gibbons, Stephen & Lyytikäinen, Teemu & Overman, Henry G. & Sanchis-Guarner, Rosa, 2019. "New road infrastructure: The effects on firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 35-50.
    3. Dave Donaldson, 2018. "Railroads of the Raj: Estimating the Impact of Transportation Infrastructure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 899-934, April.
    4. Erik Hornung, 2015. "Railroads And Growth In Prussia," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 699-736, August.
    5. Miquel-Ángel Garcia-López & Ilias Pasidis & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2015. "Express delivery to the suburbs. The effects of transportation in Europe’s heterogeneous cities," Working Papers 2015/30, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    6. Redding, Stephen J. & Turner, Matthew A., 2015. "Transportation Costs and the Spatial Organization of Economic Activity," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1339-1398, Elsevier.
    7. Remi Jedwab & Edward Kerby & Alexander Moradi, 2017. "History, Path Dependence and Development: Evidence from Colonial Railways, Settlers and Cities in Kenya," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(603), pages 1467-1494, August.
    8. Stephen Gibbons & Wenjie Wu, 2017. "Airports and economic performance in China," CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance 509, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Dave Donaldson & Richard Hornbeck, 2016. "Railroads and American Economic Growth: A "Market Access" Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 799-858.
    10. Bogart, Dan & You, Xuesheng & Alvarez-Palau, Eduard J. & Satchell, Max & Shaw-Taylor, Leigh, 2022. "Railways, divergence, and structural change in 19th century England and Wales," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Remi Jedwab & Alexander Moradi, 2016. "The Permanent Effects of Transportation Revolutions in Poor Countries: Evidence from Africa," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(2), pages 268-284, May.
    12. Edward L. Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko, 2005. "Urban Decline and Durable Housing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(2), pages 345-375, April.
    13. Hoyt Bleakley & Jeffrey Lin, 2012. "Portage and Path Dependence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(2), pages 587-644.
    14. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413, November.
    15. Baum-Snow, Nathaniel & Henderson, J. Vernon & Turner, Matthew A. & Zhang, Qinghua & Brandt, Loren, 2020. "Does investment in national highways help or hurt hinterland city growth?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    16. Nathaniel Baum-Snow & Loren Brandt & J. Vernon Henderson & Matthew A. Turner & Qinghua Zhang, 2017. "Roads, Railroads, and Decentralization of Chinese Cities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(3), pages 435-448, July.
    17. Guy Michaels, 2008. "The Effect of Trade on the Demand for Skill: Evidence from the Interstate Highway System," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 683-701, November.
    18. Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Turner, Matthew A., 2018. "Subways and urban growth: Evidence from earth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 85-106.
    19. Leah Brooks & Byron Lutz, 2019. "Vestiges of Transit: Urban Persistence at a Microscale," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(3), pages 385-399, July.
    20. Yatchew, A., 1997. "An elementary estimator of the partial linear model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 135-143, December.
    21. Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), 2015. "Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 5, number 5.
    22. Donald R. Davis & David E. Weinstein, 2002. "Bones, Bombs, and Break Points: The Geography of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1269-1289, December.
    23. Gibbons, Stephen & Wu, Wenjie, 2017. "Airports, market access and local economic performance: Evidence from China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 83630, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    24. Guy Michaels & Ferdinand Rauch, 2018. "Resetting the Urban Network: 117–2012," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 378-412, February.
    25. Herzog, Ian, 2021. "National transportation networks, market access, and regional economic growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    26. Andres Aradillas-Lopez & Bo E. Honoré & James L. Powell, 2007. "Pairwise Difference Estimation With Nonparametric Control Variables," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(4), pages 1119-1158, November.
    27. Frank Windmeijer, 2019. "Two-stage least squares as minimum distance," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 1-9.
    28. Yatang Lin & Yu Qin & Zhuan Xie, 2016. "High-speed rail in China," CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance 484, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Stansbury & Dan Turner & Ed Balls, 2023. "Tackling the UK’s regional economic inequality: binding constraints and avenues for policy intervention," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3-4), pages 318-356, August.
    2. Di Cataldo, Marco & Romani, Giulia, 2024. "Rational cuts? The local impact of closing undersized schools," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    3. repec:osf:socarx:d42xq_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Becka Brolinson, 2024. "Valuing public transit: The L‐train shutdown," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 794-842, May.
    5. Philip McCann & Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2022. "Regional Innovation, Industrial Policy and UK Interregional Challenges," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 243(4), pages 83-100, December.
    6. Di Cataldo, Marco & Romani, Giulia, 2023. "The local impact of closing undersized schools," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119359, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Woan Foong Wong & Simon Fuchs, 2022. "Multimodal Transport Networks," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2022-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, revised Oct 2024.
    8. Flintz, Joschka, 2024. "The value of passenger rail access," Ruhr Economic Papers 1114, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Stephan Heblich & Stephen J Redding & Daniel M Sturm, 2020. "The Making of the Modern Metropolis: Evidence from London," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2059-2133.
    3. Fenske, James & Kala, Namrata & Wei, Jinlin, 2023. "Railways and cities in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Berger, Thor, 2019. "Railroads and Rural Industrialization: evidence from a Historical Policy Experiment," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Redding, Stephen, 2020. "Trade and Geography," CEPR Discussion Papers 15268, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig, 2019. "Transport infrastructure, growth and persistence: The rise and demise of the Sui Canal," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 624-666, May.
    7. Redding, Stephen, 2021. "Suburbanization in the United States 1970-2010," CEPR Discussion Papers 16174, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Stephen J. Redding, 2022. "Suburbanization in the USA, 1970–2010," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(S1), pages 110-136, June.
    9. Luke Heath Milsom, 2023. "Moving OpportunityLocal Connectivity and Spatial Inequality," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2303, CEPREMAP.
    10. Bogart, Dan & You, Xuesheng & Alvarez-Palau, Eduard J. & Satchell, Max & Shaw-Taylor, Leigh, 2022. "Railways, divergence, and structural change in 19th century England and Wales," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Stephan Maurer & Ferdinand Rauch, 2023. "Economic geography aspects of the Panama Canal," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(1), pages 142-162.
    12. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Alfonso Herranz-Loncán & Filippo Tassinari & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2021. "Paving the way to modern growth. Evidence from Bourbon roads in Spain," Working Papers 0209, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    13. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel & Herranz-Loncán, Alfonso & Tassinari, Filippo & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2023. "Paving the way to modern growth: The Spanish Bourbon roads," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Okamoto, Chigusa & Sato, Yasuhiro, 2021. "Impacts of high-speed rail construction on land prices in urban agglomerations: Evidence from Kyushu in Japan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    15. Bluhm, Richard & Dreher, Axel & Fuchs, Andreas & Parks, Bradley C. & Strange, Austin M. & Tierney, Michael J., 2025. "Connective financing: Chinese infrastructure projects and the diffusion of economic activity in developing countries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    16. Berger, Thor & Enflo, Kerstin, 2017. "Locomotives of local growth: The short- and long-term impact of railroads in Sweden," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 124-138.
    17. Braun, Sebastian Till & Franke, Richard, 2022. "Railways, Growth, and Industrialization in a Developing German Economy, 1829–1910," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(4), pages 1183-1221, December.
    18. Emran,M. Shahe & Shilpi,Forhad J. & Coulombe,Harold & Blankespoor,Brian, 2019. "Temporary Trade Shocks, Spatial Reallocation, and Persistence in Developing Countries : Evidence from a Natural Experiment in West Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8962, The World Bank.
    19. Yuhei Miyauchi & Kentaro Nakajima & Stephen J. Redding, 2021. "Consumption Access and Agglomeration: Evidence from Smartphone Data," Working Papers 287, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    20. Stef Proost & Jacques-François Thisse, 2019. "What Can Be Learned from Spatial Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(3), pages 575-643, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics
    • N74 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Europe: 1913-

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:143:y:2024:i:c:s0094119024000615. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622905 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.