Does the High-speed Railway Reduce the Urban-rural Income Gap?

The opening of high-speed railway has a positive effect on the economic growth. While whether the effect can be shared by everyone equally is unknown. Especially, the research about the impact of high-speed railway on the urban and rural income distribution is still insufficient. This paper uses the spatial econometric model to test the influence of high-speed railway on urban-rural income gap through provincial panel data between 2004 and 2015 in China. It is found that, high-speed railway can narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas. And further analysis shows that high-speed railway can not only significantly improve the urban residents' income, but also can improve the income of rural residents, which is a Pareto improvement, and it can reduce the income gap between urban and rural areas as a whole.