Study on the impact of the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway on regional economic equity based on economic performance

According to the panel data of stations along the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway (BSHR) from 2008 to 2018, the influence of BSHR on regional economy of cities along the line is analyzed, and the influence of the opening of the BSHR on regional economic equity of cities along the line, through constructing the difference-in-differences model. The research result shows that the opening of the BSHR greatly promotes the growth of the GDP per capita of the site cities along the line and the optimal allocation of resources, such as labor, information and technology, and accelerates the two-way flow of factors of production between big cities and small and medium-sized cities at stations along the high-speed railway, makes high-quality resources from small and medium-sized cities flow to big cities along the line, while some backward resources from big cities gradually tilt toward small- and medium-sized cities along the line. In short, the opening of BSHR promotes the economic growth of the cities along the line, shortens the economic gap between the cities, is conducive to realizing regional economic equity.