Does spatiotemporal heterogeneity matter? Air transport and the rise of high-tech industry in China

Air transport has essential effects on economic landscapes. However, geographical issues, such as spatiotemporal heterogeneity, still lack full discussion. To fill this gap, our research built a multiscale geographically and temporally weighted regression (MGTWR) model with the help of panel data from 35 large and medium-sized cities in China during 2003-2017. The findings are as follows. First, a 1% increase in air transport passengers has resulted in a 0.1% growth in innovation performance in the high-tech industry. Second, these impacts showed spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Effects in Southwest China were valued higher than in other parts of China, and the results performed better as time progressed. Third, air transport was more global and long-term than other related factors, which provides a reference for significant changes in spatial and temporal intervals when doing the planning. These findings broaden our understanding of global and local associations between air transport and regional innovation.

Automated summary

The research built a multiscale geographically and temporally weighted regression model to analyze the data from 35 cities in China and found that air transport has a positive impact on innovation performance in the high-tech industry. This impact shows spatiotemporal heterogeneity.