The determinants of total highway construction and maintenance expenditures in the highway districts of texas and how these expenditures on transportation infrastructure affect employment levels are described. Pooled time series and cross-sectional time series linear regression models were used to measure economic and political relationships to highway expenditures. Research results indicate that there is a positive relationship between total employment, personal income, expenditures on transportation, and expenditures on transportation lagged. The length of the lag varies among the economic sectors and major industries of the state. Some lag patterns of transportation expenditures and employment follow a decreasing linear function, whereas others more closely resemble a second order polynomial. Thereis a difference between the highway districts as to the amount of effect transportation expenditures have on employment. The impacts are greatest in the more urban districts, and least in the more rural districts. The political influences as defined in this study were not significant in determining the level of public funds spent on highway infrastructure. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1305, Finance, planning, programming, economic analysis, and land development 1991.
Samenvatting