| 讲座简介： | This paper investigates how the transport network drives the integration of domestic regional markets. By utilizing data from China’s expressways network geographic information systems and administrative survey data on manufacturing firms, we uncover robust micro-level evidence of the channels through which the transportation network influences market integration. We find that as firms’ centrality in the expressways network increases, their input prices decrease, while their productivity and input quality improve. Moreover, these benefits are found to be heterogeneous among different groups, specifically favoring those firms with relatively low performance in terms of low productivity, high input price, and low input quality. At the aggregate level, the disparity in the centrality of China’s counties is narrowing, and the improvements in the expressway network are associated with increased provincial freight volume and reduced dispersion of firm productivity, input price, and input quality within provinces. These channels drive the convergence of firm performance and regional development, offering us a new lens through which to understand the dynamics of market integration. |
