Open Access Journal Article

Does High-Speed Rail Really Have a Positive Effect on City Consumption? A PSM-DID Approach With China Case

by Xinshuo Hou a,b,* ,  Dongyang Li a  and  Jianghuan Peng a
a
Business School, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, China
b
Research Center for Chinese Path to Modernization and Rural Revitalization, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
JRE  2022, 4; 1(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.58567/jre01010004
Received: 9 November 2022 / Accepted: 27 December 2022 / Published Online: 29 December 2022
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Abstract

This paper evaluates the treatment effect of high-speed rail (HSR) operation on city consumption using the dataset of Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019. Firstly, the applicability of observations is discussed; secondly, observations with no appropriate contrast samples are dropped for more precise empirical results. Then, propensity score matching (PSM) is implied to have the database much more balanced and suitable for the difference-in-difference (DID) framework, that is, the PSM-DID approach. The main results find a novel phenomenon of Simpson's paradox regarding the HSR-consumption nexus, which indicates that even though we can observe the positive effect on the whole, the results argue negative relationships between HSR and consumption within subclass cities. In addition, a dose-response assessment (DR) and some other checks have been proposed to demonstrate robust estimation results.

Keywords: High-Speed Rail; City Consumption; PSM-DID; Dose-Response; Simpson's Paradox;
Copyright: © 2022 by Hou, Li and Peng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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ACS Style
Hou, X.; Li, D.; Peng, J. Does High-Speed Rail Really Have a Positive Effect on City Consumption? A PSM-DID Approach With China Case. Journal of Regional Economics, 2022, 1, 4. https://doi.org/10.58567/jre01010004
AMA Style
Hou X, Li D, Peng J. Does High-Speed Rail Really Have a Positive Effect on City Consumption? A PSM-DID Approach With China Case. Journal of Regional Economics; 2022, 1(1):4. https://doi.org/10.58567/jre01010004
Chicago/Turabian Style
Hou, Xinshuo; Li, Dongyang; Peng, Jianghuan 2022. "Does High-Speed Rail Really Have a Positive Effect on City Consumption? A PSM-DID Approach With China Case" Journal of Regional Economics 1, no.1:4. https://doi.org/10.58567/jre01010004
APA style
Hou, X., Li, D., & Peng, J. (2022). Does High-Speed Rail Really Have a Positive Effect on City Consumption? A PSM-DID Approach With China Case. Journal of Regional Economics, 1(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.58567/jre01010004

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