Assessing the Relationship between Transportation Infrastructure andProductivity: Summary of Current Research. Part of a Highways and Economic Productivity Agenda

摘要

The paper attempts to present a broad review of the literature, a summary of theresults of recent research studies, the strengths and weaknesses of the research, and new estimates concerning the debate over the relationship between productivity and public capital and highways. Overall, national production function estimates for the magnitude of the relationship between highway investment and economic productivity are unrealistically large, but they signify the existence of this relationship. Indeed, the traditional method of assessing an infrastructure project, cost-benefit analysis, indicates a positive relationship between public capital and productivity, because it finds that in selected instances the rate of return for public capital investment projects exceeds the rate of return to private capital investment projects.