Using a fixed effects panel for the years 2000 to 2015, this paper empirically examines the relationship between rail and road infrastructure investment and the regional economic performance of Italy and Spain. As proxies for infrastructure investment, road and rail densities were used, while for economic performance, GDP, GDP per capita and GDP per hours worked at a regional level were considered. In addition, the extent that the economic effect of transport infrastructure is influenced by EU macroeconomic conditions and whether the effect changes depending on the country is also analyzed. Results differ depending on the type of infrastructure: the effects are positive for rail and negative for road. Furthermore, when differences between countries are investigated, productivity in Italy is negatively affected by investment in road infrastructure compared to Spain, but no difference is present when rail is considered.

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G. Mingardo
hdl.handle.net/2105/41465
Business Economics
Erasmus School of Economics

F. Prata. (2017, December 20). Land Transport Infrastructure and Productivity:. Business Economics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2105/41465