This paper analyses if and to what extent the construction of highway infrastructure has a positive impact on employment in the regions in the period 1970 - 1990. In the first place the development of accessibility in The Netherlands is analyzed. It appears that it has increased mostly in the peripheral zone, while in the Randstad the increase was the smallest. The employment growth was largest in the intermediary zone however. Next, a reference region approach has been applied to analyze if regions, in which the A 1 is constructed, had a more positive employment growth than comparable regions, where less infrastructure was constructed. No clear positive impact has been found. To take also other region specific factors into account a model has been estimated in which the national and international accessibility are important variables.
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