MOVING TOWARD SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: INFLUENCE OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL DEVELOPMENT ON THE URBAN-RURAL INCOME GAP FROM A LAND FACTOR PERSPECTIVE IN CHINA

Abstract

While extensive research links the transportation infrastructure to reductions in the urban-rural income gap (URIG) in support of Sustainable Development Goal 10 (reduced inequalities), little attention has been paid to the underlying mechanisms related to land (e.g., land green use efficiency and land value). Using 3843 observations across 283 Chinese cities from 2008 to 2023, this study treats high-speed rail (HSR) openings as a quasi-natural experiment and employs a staggered difference-in-differences method to both estimate the effect of HSR development on the URIG and identify the role of land-related factors in the mechanism. Results showed that HSR development significantly narrows the URIG, primarily by improving land green use efficiency and raising land value. The effect is more pronounced in non-central cities and regions with greater HSR service accessibility (i.e., stronger intercity connectivity). These findings enrich the theory at the intersection of transportation, applied ecology, and environmental governance and provide useful insights for political decision-making.