Infrastructure's Contribution to Aggregate Output


Book Description

"Of the major kinds of physical infrastructure, electricity generating capacity has roughly the same marginal productivity as physical capital as a whole. So have roads-plus-rail, globally and in lower-income countries. Telephones, however, and transport routes in higher-income countries, have higher marginal productivity than other kinds of capital"--Cover.




Infrastructure's Contribution to Aggregate Output


Book Description

Of the major kinds of physical infrastructure, electricity generating capacity has roughly the same marginal productivity as physical capital as a whole. So have roads-plus-rail, globally and in lower-income countries. Telephones, however, and transport routes in higher-income countries, have higher marginal productivity than other kinds of capital.Using panel data for a cross-section of countries, Canning estimates an aggregate production function that includes infrastructure capital. He finds that:middot; The productivity of physical and human capital is close to the levels suggested by microeconomic evidence on their private returns.middot; Electricity generating capacity and transportation networks have roughly the same marginal productivity as capital as a whole.middot; Telephone networks appear to show higher marginal productivity than other types of capital.Panel data cointegration methods used in estimation take account of the nonstationary nature of the data, are robust to reverse causation, and allow for different levels of productivity and different short-run business-cycle and multiplier relationships across countries.This paper - a product of Public Economics, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study the impact of public expenditures. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Infrastructure and Growth: A Multicountry Panel Study (RPO 680-89). The author may be contacted at [email protected].




The Contributions of Infrastructure to Economic Development


Book Description

This paper reviews the linkages between infrastructure and economic development based on both formal empirical research and informal case studies. The main thesis is that economic benefits result from investments in infrastructure only to the extent that they generate a sustainable flow of services valued by consumers. Thus, an analysis of infrastructures' contributions to growth must look at the impacts of services as actually perceived, not at indirect indicators that measure only aggregate provision of infrastructure capital. The paper notes that macro and industry level research , although having its limitations, suggest a positive and statistically significant relationship between infrastructure and economic output. However the conclusions derived from this research (most of which derives from developed countries) provide little specific guidance for policy. To gain more practical insights about how infrastructure contributes to economic growth and to improved quality of life, and to understand the welfare costs of inadequate or unreliable infrastructure, it is necessary to look at microeconomic evidence. Particularly interesting illustrations of these relationships are to be found in developing countries where there is wide variance in the availability and quality of infrastructure.




The Social Rate of Return on Infrastructure Investments


Book Description

Large potential benefits of infrastructure may elude identification and measurement by conventional cost-benefit analysis. Canning and Bennathan estimate social rates of return on general capital, by examining the effect on aggregate output and comparing that effect with the costs of construction.







Issues of Infrastructural Development


Book Description

What is infrastructure; State of infrastructural development; Theoretical concerns about the impact of infrastructure; Empirical studies on the impact of infrastructure; Issues of resource allocation of infrastructure.




Is Infrastructure Capital Productive? A Dynamic Heterogeneous Approach


Book Description

This paper offers an empirical evaluation of the output contribution of infrastructure. Drawing from a large data set on infrastructure stocks covering 88 countries and spanning the years 1960-2000, and using a panel time-series approach, the paper estimates a long-run aggregate production function relating GDP to human capital, physical capital, and a synthetic measure of infrastructure given by the first principal component of infrastructure endowments in transport, power, and telecommunications. Tests of the cointegration rank allowing it to vary across countries reveal a common rank with a single cointegrating vector, which is taken to represent the long-run production function. Estimation of its parameters is performed using the pooled mean group estimator, which allows for unrestricted short-run parameter heterogeneity across countries while imposing the (testable) restriction of long-run parameter homogeneity. The long-run elasticity of output with respect to the synthetic infrastructure index ranges between 0.07 and 0.10. The estimates are highly significant, both statistically and economically, and robust to alternative dynamic specifications and infrastructure measures. There is little evidence of long-run parameter heterogeneity across countries, whether heterogeneity is unconditional, or conditional on their level of development, population size, or infrastructure endowments.




Infrastructure and the Complexity of Economic Development


Book Description

The book examines the complex relationships between infrastructure and the rest of the economy. In particular, it focuses on the contentious issue of whether infrastructure investments stimulate productivity growth, issues of pricing and ownership, and also development problems such as environmental damage. Methods range from traditional production function models and compensating variation approaches to nonlinear methods of dynamic analysis. There is a unique emphasis on the ability of these different methods to allow for the complex interdependencies involved. Six of the fifteen papers deal with these methodological aspects, whereas the remainder addresses specific cases or examples in a variety of countries (Europe, USA and developing countries).




Infrastructure and Economic Growth in Asia


Book Description

Public spending on infrastructure plays an important role in promoting economic growth and poverty alleviation. Empirical studies unequivocally show that under-investment in infrastructure limit economic growth. At the same time, numerous other studies have shown that investment in infrastructure can be a highly effective tool in fighting poverty reduction1. In that context, the financing of infrastructure has been a critical element of most economic growth and poverty reduction strategies in developing countries, since the start of this millennium. This book provides a comparative analysis of the aggregate and sectoral implications of higher spending on infrastructure in three very different Asian countries: China, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Particular attention is paid to the role of alternative financing mechanisms for increasing public infrastructure investment, namely distortionary and non-distortionary means of financing. The book will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers concerned with economic growth in developing countries.




Is Infrastructure Capital Productive? A Dynamic Heterogeneous Approach


Book Description

This paper offers an empirical evaluation of the output contribution of infrastructure. Drawing from a large data set on infrastructure stocks covering 88 countries and spanning the years 1960-2000, and using a panel time-series approach, the paper estimates a long-run aggregate production function relating GDP to human capital, physical capital, and a synthetic measure of infrastructure given by the first principal component of infrastructure endowments in transport, power, and telecommunications. Tests of the cointegration rank allowing it to vary across countries reveal a common rank with a single cointegrating vector, which is taken to represent the long-run production function. Estimation of its parameters is performed using the pooled mean group estimator, which allows for unrestricted short-run parameter heterogeneity across countries while imposing the (testable) restriction of long-run parameter homogeneity. The long-run elasticity of output with respect to the synthetic infrastructure index ranges between 0.07 and 0.10. The estimates are highly significant, both statistically and economically, and robust to alternative dynamic specifications and infrastructure measures. There is little evidence of long-run parameter heterogeneity across countries, whether heterogeneity is unconditional, or conditional on their level of development, population size, or infrastructure endowments.