An empirical study on air transport promoting the coordinated regional economic development: A perspective of spatial interaction

The impact of China's civil aviation on Coordinated Regional Economic Development (CRED) is becoming increasingly significant. Constructing and validating the mechanism and effects of air transport on CRED constitutes fundamental theoretical research underpinning the strategic position of air transport. This research can provide policy implications for promoting CRED. Based on the exploratory construction of the "logical mechanism of air transport influencing CRED," this paper empirically tests theoretical hypotheses using panel data of "region-pairs" among the seven major civil aviation regions from 2008 to 2023. The results indicate that: (1) Air transport significantly promotes CRED. This conclusion remains robust after addressing endogeneity and conducting robustness checks. (2) "Spatial interactions" act as a mediating variable and represent the primary pathway for this effect. (3) Air transport significantly strengthens the diffusion effects of factor flows between regions, narrowing disparities in resource endowments. Consequently, this exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between air transport and CRED. (4) Regional and temporal heterogeneity analyses reveal that air transport exerts a more pronounced positive effect on CRED between the Northeast, Central-South, North China, and East China regions and other regions. However, the role of air transport in promoting CRED exhibits a gradual decline over time.中国民航业对协调区域经济发展（Coordinated Regional Economic Development，CRED）的影响日益凸显。厘清航空运输对CRED的作用机制与效应，是支撑航空运输战略定位的基础性理论研究，可为推动CRED提供政策启示。本文在探索性构建“航空运输影响CRED的逻辑机制”的基础上，以2008-2023年中国七大民航区域间的“区域对”面板数据为样本，对理论假说进行实证检验。研究结果显示：（1）航空运输可显著促进CRED，在解决内生性问题并开展稳健性检验后，该结论依然稳健；（2）“空间互动”作为中介变量，是航空运输发挥作用的主要路径；（3）航空运输显著强化了区域间要素流动的扩散效应，缩小了资源禀赋差距，进而对航空运输与CRED的关系产生正向调节作用；（4）区域与时间异质性分析表明，航空运输对东北地区、中南地区、华北地区、华东地区与其他区域间的CRED具有更显著的正向推动作用，但航空运输促进CRED的作用随时间推移逐渐减弱。