The Impacts of High-speed Rail on Sustainable Economic Development: Evidence from the Central Part of China

To give full play to the role of high-speed rail (HSR) in promoting sustainable economic development, the models that can calculate and describe the impacts of HSR on the sustainable economy are required. However, little attention has been paid so far to building such models. To address this, the paper puts forward the definition of sustainable economic development, especially that of China. Based on the definition, the paper proposes the indicators of sustainable economic development for China from industry and labor force perspectives. Compared with the previous literature, these indicators take into account the behavior of enterprises and labor forces as individuals rather than as groups, which is more explanatory. HSR, as the main factor to improve the level of transportation technology and accessibility, is incorporated into the analytical framework. Then, we build decision-making behavior models of single enterprise and labor force under market equilibrium to get the relationship between HSR and indicators. Compared with the previous literature, the methods within the paper not only fully consider the interests of enterprises and labor forces, but also considers the interaction between industries and the trade of commodities in different cities/regions. The evidence from the central part of China shows that the model can effectively reveal the relationship between HSR and indicators. The paper gives new perspectives to study the relationship between HSR and sustainable economic development. Based on the findings herein, we offer recommendations for how HSR can promote sustainable economic development effectively.