主题｜Topic：On the Right Track? Railroads, Industrial Development, and Distributional Effects in Historical China
时间｜Time：3.25（周二）10: 00-11: 00
地点｜Venue：文澴楼教室｜Room 815，WENHUAN
主办单位｜Organizer：文澜学院
承办单位｜Operator：数实融合研究中心；北京大学-中南财经政法大学新结构经济学研究中心
主讲｜Speaker
周彦，香港大学经济学博士生，研究领域为数字经济学，发展经济学，经济史。文章发表于《Journal of Development Economics》，参与过数个自科和社科基金项目，研究获得香港大学经济及工商管理学院博士生优秀研究奖。
摘要｜Abstract
We present the first quantitative evaluation of the overall impact and distributional effects of railroad access on industrial growth in historical China. Using newly digitized data on railroad expansion and distance to hypothetical railroad networks as instruments, we find that railroad access significantly increased the annual entry of local industrial firms from 1858 to 1936 and industrial output values in 1933. However, the effect is concentrated in counties within 10 km of the railroad lines and is less pronounced in those specializing in agricultural exports and with historical handicraft textile centers, suggesting that improved transportation may have encouraged deindustrialization in peripheral areas and promoted the regional concentration of production. Our analysis of mechanisms suggests that railroads facilitated industrialization mainly by expanding firms’ access to larger markets.
