This study explores the relationship between railroad integration and regional development on the European periphery between 1870 and 1910, based on a regional data set including 291 spatial units. Railroad integration is proxied by railroad density, while per capita GDP is used as an indicator of economic development. The period under study is of particular relevance as it has been associated with the second wave of railroad construction in Europe and also coincides with the industrialization of most of the continent. Overall, we found that railroads had a significant and positive impact on the growth of per capita GDP across Europe. The magnitude of this relationship appears to be relatively modest, but the results obtained are robust with respect to a number of different specifications. From a geographical perspective, we found that railroads had a significantly greater influence on regions located in countries on the northern periphery of Europe than in other outlying areas. They also helped the economies of these areas to begin the process of catching up with the continent’s industrialized core. In contrast, the regions on the southern periphery showed lower levels of economic growth, with this exacerbating the preexisting divergence in economic development. The expansion of the railroad network in them was unable to homogenize the diffusion of economic development and tended to further benefit the regions that were already industrialized. In most of the cases, the capital effect was magnified, and this contributed to the consolidation of newly created nation-states.

中文翻译：

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1870-1910 年欧洲周边地区的铁路一体化和不平衡发展

本研究基于包含 291 个空间单元的区域数据集，探讨了 1870 年至 1910 年间欧洲外围铁路一体化与区域发展之间的关系。铁路一体化以铁路密度为代表，而人均国内生产总值则被用作经济发展的指标。所研究的时期特别重要，因为它与欧洲铁路建设的第二波浪潮有关，也与欧洲大陆大部分地区的工业化相吻合。总体而言，我们发现铁路对整个欧洲的人均 GDP 增长产生了重大而积极的影响。这种关系的大小似乎相对适中，但所获得的结果对于许多不同的规格都是稳健的。从地理上看，我们发现铁路对位于欧洲北部边缘国家的地区的影响明显大于其他边远地区。他们还帮助这些地区的经济开始追赶非洲大陆的工业化核心。相比之下，南部外围地区的经济增长水平较低，这加剧了先前存在的经济发展差异。其中铁路网的扩张无法使经济发展的扩散同质化，而倾向于进一步使已经工业化的地区受益。在大多数情况下，资本效应被放大了，这有助于巩固新创建的民族国家。