Does the Construction of High-speed Rail Promote the Inflow of Population? Evidence from China

In the past 15 years, China's high-speed rail construction has developed rapidly and has had a significant effect on the factor flow between regions. In this study, we theoretically and empirically evaluate this effect. Based on the hypothesis that the income difference between cities leads to labor transfer, we use a theoretical model and find that highspeed rail construction can reduce the cost of commuting between cities and encourages people to move to larger cities with higher wages. Then, we choose China's type I large cities as research objects to verify this result and illustrate that the opening of highspeed rail will promote the migration of labor to super large cities with an average resident population of more than 4 million.