Analyzing impacts of Vietnams North–South highway on creation of regional cluster

Abstract

© 2022, The Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International.This paper identifies the influence of Vietnams North–South (NS) highway on the creation of regional clusters through spatial simultaneous equation models and spatial cluster analysis. The models showed that the creation of a highway leads to a spatial redistribution of economic activities and the emergence of a new regional cluster in the South Central Coast Region. These results reveal that the improved level of accessibility stimulated by highway development has the potential to increase employment by 0.65% and GDP by 1.01%. Additionally, the construction of the NS highway generates positive economic effects on the less-developed regions in the country, such as the South Central Coast Area, whereas negative effects are seen in the more relatively developed regions of Hanoi and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.