The exact importance of transportation infrastructure as an element in the economic development process has long been disputed. Much seems to depend upon the degree to which supply considerations are thought important. The demand-side Keynesian approach indicates that causality runs from economic exploitation to income and on to infrastructure generation. In contrast, neoclassical economics is supply-driven and transport and other infrastructure are generally seen as important elements in the production function. Much of this recent work follows the neoclassical mode in looking at the links between infrastructure provision and economic development through some form of aggregate production function analysis. It has sought to see how well the aggregate production function, and its individual elements, explains economic performance. This chapter looks at some of the analysis that has been conducted on the role of transportation in the economic development process. This analysis is based upon a variety of different approaches that have ranged from the historical to the use of mathematical modelling. It also looks at development at various geographical levels spanning the national to the very local.
Abstract