TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURES, CO2 EMISSIONS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: NEW EVIDENCE FROM OECD COUNTRIES

The impact of public infrastructures on economic growth is of interest in the context of tight budget restrictions. For a panel of OECD countries, we estimate a production function incorporating as additional inputs a measure of transport infrastructures and the levels of CO2 emitted by the various means of transport to proxy for the use of the environment. Using a GMM estimate and a translogarithmic function the output-elasticity of aggregate transport infrastructures is negative, whereas the elasticity takes a positive and significant value with regard to the use of the environment. By types of infrastructures, most of the elasticities are not significant, suggesting that transport infrastructures do not generate economic growth directly, but do so indirectly by a higher consumption of the environment.