OECD Economics Department Working Papers

ISSN :
1815-1973 (en ligne)
DOI :
10.1787/18151973
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Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.
 

Infrastructure and Growth

Empirical Evidence You or your institution have access to this content

Auteur(s):
Balázs Égert1, Tomasz Kozluk1, Douglas Sutherland1
Author Affiliations
  • 1: OCDE, France

Date de publication
13 mars 2009
Bibliographic information
N°:
685
Pages
61
DOI
10.1787/225682848268

Cacher / Voir l'abstract

Investment in network infrastructure can boost long-term economic growth in OECD countries. Moreover, infrastructure investment can have a positive effect on growth that goes beyond the effect of the capital stock because of economies of scale, the existence of network externalities and competition enhancing effects. This paper, which is part of a project examining the links between infrastructure and growth and the role of public policies, reports the results on the links with growth from a variety of econometric approaches. Time-series results reveal a positive impact of infrastructure investment on growth. They also show that this effect varies across countries and sectors and over time. In some cases, these results reveal evidence of possible over-investment, which may be related to inefficient use of infrastructure. Bayesian model averaging of cross-section growth regressions confirm that infrastructure investment in telecommunications and the electricity sectors has a robust positive effect on long-term growth (but not in railways and road networks). Furthermore, this effect is highly nonlinear as the impact is stronger if the physical stock is lower.
Mots-clés:
economic growth, investment, co-integration, Bayesian model averaging, infrastructure, network industry
Classification JEL:
  • E22: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment / Capital; Investment; Capacity
  • O11: Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Development / Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
  • O40: Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity / General