Rail access and subjective well-being: Evidence from quality of life surveys

The development of rail transit infrastructure is a key policy focus particularly in countries like China, which have experienced fast urbanisation over the past decade. This paper uses unique data and innovative methods to explore the perceived satisfaction impacts of transport improvements at a very detailed geographical scale. The results quantify new evidence on the links between rail access and perceived satisfaction measures with respect to different dimensions of living environment. The empirical evidence suggests that rail access is significantly valued by households and that these subjective valuations are not distributed evenly across space or social groups. The results also reinforce the impression that changes in perceived satisfaction measures might be reflected in changes in housing demand so in some way may be capitalized into local real estate markets. Journal of Comparative Economics 43 (2) (2015) 456-470. Urban Studies, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, 25 Bute Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RS, UK. (C) 2014 Association for Comparative Economic Studies Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.