Abstract
In this paper we put to trial the alleged role of investment in transport and communications infrastructure in economic growth in the Netherlands in the second half of the nineteenth century. Testing of the main hypothesis by applying Granger's concept of causation in a vector autoregression model reveals that the development of infrastructure 'caused' Dutch economic growth, In order to investigate the underlying mechanisms, we enhance the basic model with impulse-response analysis. This leads to a clear response pattern of CDP to a change in transport infrastructure investment. The response of GDP is explained as being induced by three underlying mechanisms:
1, Positive forward linkage effects (mainly through reductions in the costs of transport and communications).
2, Positive backward linkage effects (mainly through expenditure and income effects).
3, Negative transitional dynamics (mainly through changes in the spatial setting of the economy).
1, Positive forward linkage effects (mainly through reductions in the costs of transport and communications).
2, Positive backward linkage effects (mainly through expenditure and income effects).
3, Negative transitional dynamics (mainly through changes in the spatial setting of the economy).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 97-109 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1999 |
Keywords
- infrastructure
- the Netherlands
- Granger-causality
- nineteenth century
- transport
- PUBLIC-EXPENDITURE