Abstract: Based on provincial panel data of China from 2000 to 2018, the Theil Index and the Global Moran Index are used to analyze the development, evolution and regional disparities of various transportation and communication infrastructures, and spatial econometric models are mainly used to investigate the different economic effects of these various infrastructures. The results show that during the research period, transportation infrastructures in China expanded steadily, the scale of mobile telephone exchanges and cables continued to grow and the scale of fixed telephone exchanges shrank. The economic effects of various transportation infrastructures and communication infrastructures are different. The direct economic effects of transportation infrastructure and mobile communication infrastructure are significant. The increase in railway mileage and the opening of HSR have positive spillover effects on adjacent areas. It is still economically significant for China to promote the transportation infrastructures as they are not surpassed by the communication infrastructures in terms of economic contribution. Additionally, economic effect of the communication infrastructures is related to technological upgrading. The transportation infrastructure network at all levels should be comprehensively improved, the technological transformation and upgrading of the communication infrastructures should be promoted, and the in-depth coverage of the mobile communication network should be accelerated. In the future, attention should be paid to the joint contribution, shared benefits and connectivity of transportation and communication infrastructures.

Key words: transportation infrastructures, communication infrastructures, HSR, regional disparities, economic effects