交通基础设施结构与规模对区域经济增长的影响及其异质性分析

The Impact of Transportation Infrastructure Structure and Scale on Regional Economic Growth and Its Heterogeneity Analysis

摘要: 基于2016~2023年中国省级面板数据，本文从交通基础设施结构与规模的视角出发，选取公路与铁路运输相关数据，构建公路—铁路交通投资结构指标(S1)，采用固定效应模型系统考察交通基础设施结构与规模对区域经济增长的影响及其区域异质性。研究结果显示，交通基础设施的总体规模对经济增长具有促进作用，其中公路类基础设施投资的促进作用更为突出；说明交通网络扩张仍是推动区域经济发展的重要动力来源；相比之下，结构变量未通过显著性检验，表明在控制基础设施总体规模后，不同运输方式配置差异对经济增长的边际影响尚不明显。进一步区域回归结果显示，交通基础设施规模效应在西部地区更为突出，而东部地区则呈现出由规模驱动向效率提升转变的发展特征。研究结论为优化交通基础设施布局与推进区域协调发展提供了经验依据。

Abstract: Based on China’s provincial panel data from 2016 to 2023, this paper selects data related to highway and railway transportation from the perspective of the structure and scale of transportation infrastructure. It constructs a highway-railway transportation investment structure index (S1) and systematically examines the impact of transportation infrastructure structure and scale on regional economic growth and its regional heterogeneity using a fixed-effects model. The research results show that the overall scale of transportation infrastructure has a positive effect on economic growth, with the promotion effect of highway infrastructure investment being more prominent. This indicates that the expansion of transportation networks remains an important driving force for regional economic development. In contrast, the structural variables fail to pass the significance test, suggesting that after controlling for the overall scale of infrastructure, the marginal impact of different transportation mode configurations on economic growth is not yet evident. Further regional regression results show that the scale effect of transportation infrastructure is more prominent in the western region, while the eastern region exhibits a development characteristic of shifting from scale-driven to efficiency-improvement. The research conclusion provides empirical evidence for optimizing the layout of transportation infrastructure and promoting coordinated regional development.