Utilizing the panel data of 284 cities from 2005 to 2019 in China, this paper employs the multi-period difference-in-differences model to explore the impacts of the opening of high-speed rail (HSR) on green innovation as well as the underlying mechanisms and heterogeneity in the impacts. The results show that the opening of HSR effectively promotes green innovation, and this finding remains robust after a series of robustness tests. The positive impact operates not only by fostering labor agglomeration and increasing R&D expenditure but also by stimulating demand for green technologies through talent concentration and tourism expansion. Heterogeneity analyses show that the effect is concentrated in peripheral cities, cities with weaker innovation endowments, and smaller-scale cities. Based on further classification of green patent records show the opening of HSR actively promotes the growth of substantive green innovation and green innovation by enterprises, and exerts a stronger effect on green innovation in heavily polluting industries. We further demonstrate that HSR opening significantly promotes inter-city collaborative green innovation. Our findings shed new light on the economic and environmental effects of improvement in transportation infrastructure.
AcsZ. J.AnselinL.VargaA.. 2002. “Patents and Innovation Counts as Measures of Regional Production of New Knowledge.” Research Policy31 (7): 1069–85.
2.
AlbalateD.FagedaX.. 2016. “High Speed Rail and Tourism: Empirical Evidence from Spain.” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice85: 174–85.
3.
BakerA. C.LarckerD. F.WangC. C. Y.. 2022. “How Much Should we Trust Staggered Difference-In-Differences Estimates?” Journal of Financial Economics144 (2): 370–95.
4.
BanerjeeA.DufloE.QianN.. 2020. “On the Road: Access to Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Growth in China.” Journal of Development Economics145: 102442.
5.
BaronR. M.KennyD. A.. 1986. “The Moderator–Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology51 (6): 1173–82.
6.
BianY.WuL.BaiJ.2019. “Does High-Speed Rail Improve Regional Innovation in China?” Journal of Financial Research468 (06): 132–49; [in Chinese].
7.
CascettaE.CartenìA.HenkeI.PagliaraF.. 2020. “Economic Growth, Transport Accessibility and Regional Equity Impacts of High-Speed Railways in Italy: Ten Years Ex Post Evaluation and Future Perspectives.” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice139: 412–28.
8.
ChangZ.DengC.LongF.ZhengL.. 2021. “High-Speed Rail, Firm Agglomeration, and PM2.5: Evidence from China.” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment96: 102886.
9.
ChenZ.HaynesK. E.. 2017. “Impact of High-Speed Rail on Regional Economic Disparity in China.” Journal of Transport Geography65: 80–91.
10.
DonaldsonD.2018. “Railroads of the Raj: Estimating the Impact of Transportation Infrastructure.” The American Economic Review108 (4-5): 899–934.
11.
DongX.ZhengS.KahnM. E.. 2020. “The Role of Transportation Speed in Facilitating High Skilled Teamwork Across Cities.” Journal of Urban Economics115: 103212.
12.
DyerT. A.GlaeserS.LangM. H.SprecherC.. 2024. “The Effect of Patent Disclosure Quality on Innovation.” Journal of Accounting and Economics77 (2): 101647.
FengQ.ChenZ.ChengC.ChangH.. 2023. “Impact of High-Speed Rail on High-Skilled Labor Mobility in China.” Transport Policy133: 64–74.
15.
GaoY.ZhengJ.. 2020. “The Impact of High-Speed Rail on Innovation: An Empirical Test of the Companion Innovation Hypothesis of Transportation Improvement with China’s Manufacturing Firms.” World Development127: 104838.
16.
FiliouD.KesidouE.WuL.. 2023. “Are Smart Cities Green? The Role of Environmental and Digital Policies for Eco-Innovation in China.” World Development165: 106212.
17.
GaoY.SuW.WangK.. 2019. “Does High-Speed Rail Boost Tourism Growth? New Evidence from China.” Tourism Management72: 220–31.
18.
Goodman-BaconA.2021. “Difference-In-Differences with Variation in Treatment Timing.” Journal of Econometrics225 (2): 254–77.
19.
GruberJ.LinM.YiJ.. 2023. “The Largest Insurance Program in History: Saving One Million Lives per Year in China.” Journal of Public Economics226: 104999.
20.
GuiraoB.Lara-GaleraA.CampaJ. L.. 2017. “High Speed Rail Commuting Impacts on Labour Migration: The Case of the Concentration of Metropolis in the Madrid Functional Area.” Land Use Policy66: 131–40.
21.
GuoX.SunW.YaoS.ZhengS.. 2020. “Does High-Speed Railway Reduce Air Pollution Along Highways? —— Evidence from China.” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment89: 102607.
22.
HeZ.ChenZ.. 2025. “High-Speed Rail, Market Segmentation, and the Rise of Green Technology Innovation Cities: Evidence from China.” Research in Transportation Business & Management62: 101429.
23.
HernándezA.JiménezJ. L.. 2014. “Does High-Speed Rail Generate Spillovers on Local Budgets?” Transport Policy35: 211–19.
24.
HuangY.CuiJ.ShenS.. 2023. “Green Technology Innovation Under China’s New Development Concept: the Effects of Policy-Push and Demand-Pull on Renewable Energy Innovation.” Social Sciences in China44 (1): 158–80.
25.
JiY.YangQ.. 2020. “Can the High-Speed Rail Service Promote Enterprise Innovation? A Study Based on Quasi-Natural Experiments.” The Journal of World Economy43 (02): 147–66; [in Chinese].
26.
KangM.LiY.ZhaoZ.SongM.YiJ.. 2023. “Travel Costs and Inter-City Collaborative Innovation: Evidence of High-Speed Railway in China.” Structural Change and Economic Dynamics65: 286–302.
27.
KomikadoH.MorikawaS.BhattA.KatoH.. 2021. “High-Speed Rail, Inter-Regional Accessibility, and Regional Innovation: Evidence from Japan.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change167: 120697.
28.
LiY.ChenZ.WangP.. 2020. “Impact of High-Speed Rail on Urban Economic Efficiency in China.” Transport Policy97: 220–31.
29.
LiZ.WangQ.CaiM.WongW.-K.. 2023. “Impacts of High-Speed Rail on the Industrial Developments of Non-Central Cities in China.” Transport Policy134: 203–16.
30.
LiuL.ZhangM.. 2018. “High-Speed Rail Impacts on Travel Times, Accessibility, and Economic Productivity: A Benchmarking Analysis in City-Cluster Regions of China.” Journal of Transport Geography73: 25–40.
31.
LiuZ.DiaoZ.LuY.. 2024. “Can the Opening of High-Speed Rail Boost the Reduction of Air Pollution and Carbon Emissions? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China.” Socio-Economic Planning Sciences92: 101799.
32.
LongC. X.YiW.. 2024. “Information Effects of High-Speed Rail: Evidence from Patent Citations in China.” China Economic Review84: 102115.
33.
MaC.TanK.HeJ.. 2023. “The Impact of Opening a High-Speed Railway on Urban Innovation: A Comparative Perspective of Traditional Innovation and Green Innovation.” Land12 (9): 1671.
34.
RambachanA.RothJ.. 2023. “A More Credible Approach to Parallel Trends.” The Review of Economic Studies90 (5): 2555–91.
35.
RothJ.2022. “Pretest with Caution: Event-Study Estimates After Testing for Parallel Trends.” The American Economic Review: Insights4 (3): 305–22.
36.
SunL.AbrahamS.. 2021. “Estimating Dynamic Treatment Effects in Event Studies with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects.” Journal of Econometrics225 (2): 175–99.
37.
SunW.GaoJ.JacobyG.WuZ.. 2024. “Access to Capital and Energy Efficiency: How High-Speed Rail Investments Benefit High-Tech Firms.” Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money91: 101912.
38.
TangC.GuanM.DouJ.. 2021. “Understanding the Impact of High Speed Railway on Urban Innovation Performance from the Perspective of Agglomeration Externalities and Network Externalities.” Technology in Society67: 101760.
39.
WangL.LiuY.SunC.LiuY.. 2016. “Accessibility Impact of the Present and Future High-Speed Rail Network: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province, China.” Journal of Transport Geography54: 161–72.
40.
WangY.CaoG.YanY.WangJ.. 2022. “Does High-Speed Rail Stimulate Cross-City Technological Innovation Collaboration? Evidence from China.” Transport Policy116: 119–31.
41.
WangS.WangJ.WangY.WangX.. 2023a. “Spillover and Re-Spillover in China’s Collaborative Innovation.” International Regional Science Review46 (1): 38–68.
42.
WangS.ZhouY.GuoJ.MaoJ.. 2023b. “Did High Speed Rail Accelerate the Development of Tourism Economy? – Empirical Analysis from Northeast China.” Transport Policy143: 25–35.
43.
World Bank. 2012. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.
44.
WuY.LeeC.-C.LeeC.-C.PengD.. 2022. “Geographic Proximity and Corporate Investment Efficiency: Evidence from High-Speed Rail Construction in China.” Journal of Banking & Finance140: 106510.
45.
YanZ.ParkS. Y.. 2023. “Does High-Speed Rail Reduce Local CO2 Emissions in China? A Counterfactual Approach.” Energy Policy173: 113371.
46.
YooS.KumagaiJ.KawasakiK., et al.2023. “Double-Edged Trains: Economic Outcomes and Regional Disparity of High-Speed Railways.” Transport Policy133: 120–33.
47.
ZhangX.WuW.ZhouZ.YuanL.. 2020. “Geographic Proximity, Information Flows and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from the High-Speed Rail Construction in China.” Pacific-Basin Finance Journal61: 101342.
48.
ZhangA.PanM.LiuB.CaoX.. 2023. “Do High-Speed Rail (HSR) Station and Airport Affect Local Government Debt Risk? Evidence from China.” Transport Policy134: 41–51.
49.
ZhouY.XuX.TaoL.. 2022. “The Impact Mechanism of High-Speed Railway on Regional Green Innovation Spillover Under Multi-Dimensional Paths.” Environmental Impact Assessment Review95: 106795.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
