Shrinking cities in the high-speed rail era: a study based on population hollowing in China

This paper investigates the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on population mobility in China's shrinking cities based on the PSM-DID model. The results show that : (1) HSR promotes population outflow from shrinking cities. (2) The mechanism analysis indicates that HSR promotes population outflow from shrinking cities through industrial structure upgrading and market consumption demand. (3) Heterogeneity analysis show that HSR exacerbates population hollowing in shrinking cities in central China, as well as shrinking cities dominated by the tertiary industry.