Railway express and regional economic disparities

Using a 2008-2022 dataset covering 297 Chinese cities at prefecture level or higher, this study uses the launch of the China Railway Express (CRE) as a natural experiment. It employs a staggered difference-in-differences method to investigate how international transportation corridors affect China's regional economic disparities. Results indicate that the CRE has helped reduce these disparities, promoting balanced regional development through technological innovation, industrial restructuring, and resource reallocation, with technological innovation having the greatest impact. The CRE has particularly impacted balanced economic growth in central and western China and in nonresource-dependent cities.