How Do Highways Enable Firm Productivity? The Role of Innovation
研究中国1998-2007年制造业样本发现，接入国家高速公路通过促进跨区域知识溢出提升企业创新绩效，进而提高生产率，且该效应在市场自由化或中介发展程度高的地区更强。
Transport infrastructure has been found to shape various outcomes of economic organizations by lowering travel costs and improving market access. In this article, we examine the spillover effect of highways on firm-level productivity and introduce innovation as a potential underlying mechanism. We argue that connection to national highways overcomes the localization of knowledge spillover by connecting ideas, information, knowledge, and talent across regions, which further improves firm productivity. Using a manufacturing sample from 1998 to 2007 in the context of China, we find a positive relationship between connection to the highways and firm productivity, and this relationship is mediated by innovation performance. Our results also suggest that such a mediating effect is strengthened when a firm is located in a region with greater market liberalization or intermediary development. Our findings add to the knowledge of economic geography by providing new insights into the interplay between infrastructure and organizational outcomes.