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Chinese agriculture in the age of high‐speed rail: Effects on agricultural value added and food output

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  • Yanyan Gao
  • Xinping Wang

Abstract

Although evidence shows that roads and conventional railways promote rural development, little is known about the impact of high‐speed rail (HSR) on agricultural output. To bridge this gap, this study explores how the establishment of HSR affects agricultural production. The causal effect was identified by constructing panel data mainly for Chinese counties between 2001 and 2017 using a difference‐in‐differences (DID) framework. The empirical results, after controlling for county‐specific linear trends, reveal that an HSR connection contributes to increasing agricultural value added and food output by approximately 4% and 6%, respectively. Moreover, the effects are mainly driven by increased productivity and adjustments to grain production and economic crops rather than the increased use of observed inputs. These results provide fresh evidence on the effect of transportation improvements on agricultural economies and highlight the need to control nonparallel trends when using the DID method to disentangle the effect. [EconLit Citations: O18, Q13, L92].

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  • Yanyan Gao & Xinping Wang, 2023. "Chinese agriculture in the age of high‐speed rail: Effects on agricultural value added and food output," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 387-405, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:agribz:v:39:y:2023:i:2:p:387-405
    DOI: 10.1002/agr.21771
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    1. He, Xi, 2023. "Dams, cropland productivity, and economic development in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Ting Xiao & Xin Yu & Liang Ding, 2023. "Can Farmers Punch Their Tickets to Wealth? The Spillover Effect of High-Speed Railway on Agriculture Development," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.

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