The Long-run Impacts of Transportation Improvements : Spatial Economic Approach Based on Quantitative Spatial Economics

Abstract

This study develops a spatial economic analysis method that can evaluate the impact of transportation infrastructure development and technological innovation on population distribution and regional economy by extending the analytical framework in the field of Quantitative Spatial Economics (QSE). Based on the findings of Takayama and Sugiyama¹⁾, we develop a QSE model that is able to appropriately represent the transportation network reflecting the convenience of not only automobiles but also public transportation systems such as railways, airlines and express buses. We then present a method for setting the parameters of this framework, along with the necessary data sets. In addition, we study the impact of interregional transportation improvements on population distribution in Japan. The results show that the changes in population distribution are qualitatively different depending on the transportation mode that decreases the transportation cost (e.g., population concentration in the three major metropolitan areas and population dispersion in regional areas).