Will high-speed rail bring cleaning effect to the cities? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

Will high-speed rail improve air quality, or make it worse? We use data of 270 cities in China from 2000 to 2018 to study the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on air pollution. Based on the difference-in-difference (DID) model, the regression results show that high-speed rail has reduced air pollution. But the results also show geographic differences. In underdeveloped areas, HSR will increase urban air pollution. The main mechanism is that HSR has affected the industrialization level and the entry of polluting enterprises. Especially in underdeveloped cities, HSR will increase industrial output and attract more polluting companies, which is not conducive to environmental governance.

KEYWORDS:

• High-speed rail
• air pollution
• DID
• underdevelopment area

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China: “Trade Partners, Commodity Structure and Environmental Pollution” (Grant number: 72073013), “Village Democratic Governance and the Transformation of China’s Processing Trade” (Grant number: 71773007), and Special Project of Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Technology Innovation Industry Financial Services Collaborative Innovation Center .

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [71773007,72073013] and Special Project of Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Technology Innovation Industry Financial Services Collaborative Innovation Center.