This publication addresses the macroeconomic effects of transport infrastructure policies, and aims to identifying analytical and empirical tools that could determine the overall volume of public expenditure for transportinfrastructure investment. It also seeks to identify state-of-the-art methods for assessing the macroeconomic impact of transport infrastructure investment. Three reports are included: Transportation infrastructure, productivity and externalities by C R Hulten; the rate of return to transportation infrastructure by D Canning and E Bennathan; and macroeconomic productivity effects of road investment - a reassessment for Western Europe by AKopp. Macroeconomic studies help to identify overall funding needs for infrastructure investment and allow overall rates of return on investment expenditure to be derived. Several effects of transport infrastructure investment, such as the impact on the efficiency of logistics systems, or thegrowth effects of induced changes in the pattern of urbanisation, are not(or not fully) captured by other planning instruments. Efforts for the extension and harmonisation of the collection of transport infrastructure investment data are considered important if international and inter-regional comparisons of infrastructure policies are to be made. This publication is also available in French under the title: Investissements en infrastructure de transport et productivite de l'economie.
Samenvatting