Transport infrastructure and regional convergence: A spatial panel data approach

Abstract

This article examines the contribution of transport infrastructure to the regional convergence in Spain for the period 1980-2008. Spatial econometric techniques are employed to decompose the direct, indirect and total effects of roads, railways, ports and airports. In addition, the analysis is complemented by estimating the determinants of the regional allocation of transport investments. Evidence confirms the presence of absolute and conditional convergence.However, only roads appear to have an impact on this convergence process. It is also understood that the main driver of transport investments has been the equalization of the infrastructure endowment between the different Spanish regions. The reduction of inequalities between regions in terms of road provision could explain the positive contribution of roads to the process of regional convergence in Spain.

Radiation Effect of Urban Agglomeration’s Transportation Network: Evidence from Chengdu–Chongqing Urban Agglomeration, China

“…UA compactness means spatial concentration degree of physical entities, such as resources, funds and technologies [30]. Specifically, in adhering to the principle of UA compactness, internal connectivity in the UA and the distribution of industries, resources, capital, technology, and professionals are optimized from spatial and temporal dimensions [9,30,39]. Using India as a case, Verma et al [40] disclosed that transportation could restructure regional spatial organizations to advance city development and integrate cities to create opportunities for small and medium-sized cities.…”

“…Garcia-Lopez [34] and Kruszyna et al [41] examined the relationship between intercity transportation and urban population distribution, and pointed out that the population is regularly distributed around intercity traffic routes. It seems that UA compactness is contributed by a strong transportation network [39,42,43].…”

Tunnelling the Peninsula of Trolls: A Case Study of Road Infrastructure Improvement and Demographic Dynamics in Northern Iceland

“…Across different continents, the mass production of automobiles and the development of national highway systems led to the decline of central cities and the growth of vast suburban residential zones (Levkovich et Massive infrastructure projects involving e.g. tunnels, bridges and high-speed trains have further expanded the reach of major cities, contributing to regional convergence in GDP (Fageda & Olivieri, 2019), narrowing the urban-rural income gap (Huang et al, 2020) and increasing longdistance commuting (Garmendia et al, 2011). As an example, about 18,000 commuters traversed the Øresund bridge between Copenhagen and the Swedish region of Skån each day (Knudsen & Rich, 2013).…”

Regional characteristics of the gender employment gap: A spatio-temporal approach

“…However, spatial econometrics models consider not only other observable explanatory variables, but also the spatial autocorrelation by including a spatially lagged dependent variable in the model (Morton et al, 2018). This variable controls for endogenous spillovers (Fageda and Olivieri, 2019) or the global spatial effect (Elhorst, 2014). In addition, it is also possible to take into account exogenous spillovers by including spatially lagged explanatory variables (Fageda and Olivieri, 2019).…”