Evolution and assessment of economic regulatory policies for expressway infrastructure in China

The primary goal of this paper is to illustrate the development of economic regulatory policies in China that have been aimed at accelerating the process of expressway infrastructure construction. Although China's expressway infrastructure originates from June 1984, this relatively late initiation still clearly demonstrates the characteristics of rapid expansion, which forms an interesting context for an analysis of regulatory policies. Based on levels of economic development and geography, China can be divided into three macro regions, i.e. eastern, central and western regions. The rapid development of expressway infrastructure, the pattern of investment, the sources of financing and regional differences in investment in the three macro regions are described. Finally, an ex-post evaluation of the principles underpinning the evolution of regulatory policies for expressway infrastructure in China is carried out, based on a qualitative equity and economic efficiency framework.