The Impact of Transport Infrastructure on Rural Industrial Integration: Spatial Spillover Effects and Spatio-Temporal Heterogeneity

Abstract

Industry convergence is the future trend of industrial development in rural areas and is conducive to high-quality agriculture development. To explore the development dynamics of industry convergence. This paper selects data from 31 provincial administrative regions in China from 2009 to 2019. It uses the entropy power method to measure the development quality of rural industrial integration in China and empirically studies the impact of transportation infrastructure on rural industrial integration using a spatial panel autoregressive model. The study found that: (1) from 2009–2019, the development quality of rural industrial integration is on the rise, but the development is uneven between regions; (2) transport infrastructure strongly promotes the development of rural industrial integration; (3) with the help of transport infrastructure, rural industrial integration in this region will improve the quality of rural industrial integration in the surrounding areas; and (4) the impact of transportation facilities varies in different regions and at different stages of development of rural industrial integration. The results of this paper are beneficial to improving transportation infrastructure planning and exploring the driving force of high-quality agriculture development, enriching the research of spatial land use, and providing valuable insights for developing industry convergence in other countries and regions.