Infrastructure Classification Revisited

Mohammed Aliu Momoh

doi:10.24297/jssr.v12i1.7277

Abstract

The impact infrastructure has long been viewed as a key ingredient for economic development. Though it has a strong growth promoting, the enormous need and complexity of infrastructure has made it difficult to define. The infrastructure definition and classification debate has been on for decades. Scholars have argued that and viewed the issue of definition and classification from different perspective ranging from aggregation to the need to reconcile the analytic and not necessarily compatible objectives. This paper reconciles the issues around the description and classification of infrastructure. It examined the various classification overtime, taking cognizance of the issues of appropriate description to meet policy challenges.

Highlights

The impact of an adequate supply of infrastructure services has long been viewed as a key ingredient for economic development, starting with the seminal work of Aschauer (1989) and subsequent policy debate
According to Age ń or (2010) Infrastructure have a strong growth-promoting effect through their impact on production costs, so a significant literature that supports the argument that infrastructure promotes economic development and growth, attracts a significant positive effect on economic growth with increasing returns to scale, foreign direct investment (FDI), reductions in production costs in manufacturing, significantly higher growth rates and poverty reduction (Dutt and Ravallion 1998; Elhance and Lakshamanan, 1988; Sahoo and Saxena, 1999; Sahoo, 2006 and Udah, 2011)
The challenges of infrastructure classification have thrown up issues that have significant impact on definition

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The impact of an adequate supply of infrastructure services has long been viewed as a key ingredient for economic development, starting with the seminal work of Aschauer (1989) and subsequent policy debate. Calderón and Servén (2008) found that infrastructure development - as measured by an increased volume of infrastructure stocks and an improved quality of infrastructure services – has a positive impact on long-run growth and a negative impact on income inequality. He defined infrastructure “as the sum of material, institutional and personal facilities and data which are available to the economic agents and which contribute to realizing the equalization of the remuneration of comparable inputs in the case of a suitable allocation of resources, that is complete integration and maximum level of economic activities" (Jochimsen 1966, 100) This categorization or classification has become important because according to Buhr (1977), it make it possible to distinguish between the effects and the determinants of infrastructure, specifying each approach by the category of infrastructure under investigation.

Material Infrastructure

Institutional Infrastructure

Findings

CONCLUSION