Evaluating the Regional Economic Impacts of High-Speed Rail and Interregional Disparity: A Combined Model of I/O and Spatial Interaction

Abstract

Among the benefits of high-speed rails (HSRs) discussed from various aspects, indirect benefits may contribute to medium- and long-term economic impacts such as an increase in service supply and gross regional product (GRP). In order to estimate the economic impacts, we modeled I/O–spatial interaction by combining the inter–industrial transactions shown on the I/O table with the geospatial distance decay of economic mass through passenger transportation. In addition, the regional economic impacts, as a part of the indirect benefits, were evaluated by the model applied to the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor in India, which is an emerging country with remarkable economic growth. The results showed the economic impacts on each zone and each industry along the MAHSR corridor as a relative distribution. The unique feature of this approach is that it is possible to evaluate the geographic distributions and interregional disparity of economic impacts by combining the industrial I/O relationships with the changes in passenger accessibility associated with a large-scale transportation project such as an HSR. Moreover, this method can be applied to various countries and regions where detailed I/O statistical data, such as interregional I/O tables, are difficult to obtain, as well as various transportation project evaluations taking into account interregional equity.

Modeling the Mutual Enhancement of Regional Economy and Personal Quality of Life (QOL): A Case Study on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor in India

“…The modeling of geospatial distortions caused by the location of industries as an economic mass, which do not appear in general input-output data, was used to estimate the productivity impacts caused by the reduction in distance decay associated with the opening of the MAHSR. The authors developed the initial version of the I/O-spatial interaction model (Sugimori et al, 2021) [23] and applied an improved version (Sugimori et al, 2022) [24] in this research. The set of equations defined in the model is as follows:…”

Transport Infrastructure and Regional Development: A Survey of Literature on Wider Economic and Spatial Impacts

“…An input-output model consists of three elements: (1) an input matrix, i.e., a table showing the costs of inputs (goods and services, labour and capital) engaged by each industry in the production process; (2) an output matrix, i.e., a table with goods and services produced by each industry; and (3) a final demand matrix, i.e., a table of goods and services available to end consumers. Sugimori et al [16] have used input-output modelling to estimate the economic impacts of investments in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) in India. The researchers assess the interregional variations in the economic impact of the investment.…”

“…In later years, major transport infrastructure construction initiatives (motorway networks, high-speed railways, seaports and airports) were mainly observed in Asia, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe and on other continents, especially in developing countries. This gave rise to a number of publications in countries previously considered as developing ones, i.e., in Asia [7][8][9][10][11][12][13], India [14][15][16], Pakistan [17], Taiwan [18]; Armenia, Georgia and Turkey [19,20], Russia [21] or in the Middle East [22], as well as in Eastern Europe (in Poland [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and Croatia [32]) and Southern Europe (in Greece [33,34], Spain [35], Portugal [36] and in Italy [37]). The increased interest in this research topic in the countries mentioned above was often linked to the parallel rapid socio-economic development of areas where transport infrastructure was being expanded.…”