Public Infrastructure Investment Research Articles

Outcome of Women’s Reservation in Panchayati Raj Institutions in Bihar

Many studies have highlighted the advantages of female leadership in bolstering investment in public infrastructure aimed at enhancing the well-being of women and children, along with fostering the empowerment of women. Building upon this premise, this study aims to examine how political decentralization and female leadership impact social and demographic indicators related to women's empowerment, thereby contributing to the growing body of research on this topic. The focus of this study is on State of Bihar, which is India's third most populous state with approximately 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. By analysing data from various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the study finds that empowering local governance and promoting female leadership have led to enhancements in women and child health outcomes, as well as bolstering women's empowerment at the grassroots level in Bihar.

Public investment, infrastructure and private investment in Brazil: is there a crowding-in effect?

PurposeOur study aims to evaluate the impact of infrastructure and public investment on private investment in machinery and equipment in Brazil from 1947 to 2017. The contribution of our article to the existing literature lies in providing a more comprehensive understanding of the presence or absence of the crowding effect in the Brazilian economy by leveraging an extensive historical database. Our central argument posits that the recent decline in private capital accumulation over the last few decades can be attributed to shifts in economic policies – moving from a developmentalist orientation to nondevelopmental guidance since the early 1990s, which is reflected in the diminished levels of public investment and infrastructure since the 1980s.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted a series of econometric regressions utilizing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model as our chosen econometric methodology.FindingsEmploying two different variables to measure public investment and infrastructure, our results – robust across various specifications – have substantiated the existence of a crowding-in effect in Brazil over the examined period. Thus, we have empirical evidence indicating that the state has influenced private capital accumulation in the Brazilian economy over the past decades.Originality/valueOur article contributes to the existing literature by offering a more comprehensive understanding of the crowding effect in the Brazilian economy, utilizing an extensive historical database.

Die Innovationsfähigkeit Deutschlands

Abstract Current assessments of the German economy and its innovation potential are reminiscent of the early 2000s when Germany was considered the sick man of Europe. Germany is facing enormous challenges of overlapping crises in connection with demographic change and the green transformation that will require a wide range of innovations to overcome. The responsibility must first and foremost be borne by the companies themselves. However, public (infrastructure) investment is often followed by private investment. Streamlining the bureaucracy for targeted immigration is a high priority in order to counteract the shortage of skilled labour.

Fiscal Decentralization and Public Infrastructure Maintenance Expenditures: A Cross-Country Panel Analysis

The often-forgotten dimension of public infrastructure finance is the difficulty of maintaining a proper level of infrastructure in good condition. Given that increasing responsibilities for public infrastructure investment have been decentralized worldwide, this study investigates the impact of fiscal and political decentralization on infrastructure maintenance expenditures using a panel cross-country analysis from 1995 to 2020. To address the endogeneity concerns and estimate the causal impact of fiscal decentralization (revenue and expenditure decentralization), this research uses the Geographic Fragmentation Index and country size as two valid instrumental variables for fiscal decentralization. Our main results confirm that fiscal and political decentralization measures are found to increase public spending on road maintenance. The findings are robust to alternative model specifications and different measures of fiscal and political decentralization.

Investments in basic public infrastructure and their effects on economic growth in a developing country: The case of Cameroon

The literature review conducted in this study indicates that there is no unanimity regarding the definition of infrastructure and its impact on growth. While some economists argue that focusing on logistical infrastructure, such as transportation, telecommunications, water, and energy, would be beneficial for governments, others emphasise the importance of social infrastructure, such as health and education. Given the diverse range of opinions, further investigation is required, particularly in the context of Cameroon's infrastructure. The objective of this article is to evaluate the impact of investing in fundamental public infrastructure on economic growth in Cameroon. The study compares the elasticities of various infrastructure types on growth and private investment. With data from WDI 2020, a generalized method of moments is utilised, revealing that the energy sector has the highest contribution. In the majority of studies relating to infrastructure; many are those who are limited to overall infrastructures without however specifying them. Furthermore, the particularity of our study is that we are not interested in the stock of infrastructure, but rather in the amount of investment actually allocated. We are therefore trying to jointly see their repercussions on economic growth and the behaviour of private investments, something which had not yet been done in Cameroon to our knowledge. Therefore we find that the impacts of investments actually allocated do not have the same effects on the growth and behaviour of private investments; for example, everything happens as if there is a crowding out effect between the telecommunications sector and the behaviour of private investments. Macroeconomic performance in Cameroon is positively influenced by investment in road and telecommunications infrastructure. A 1% increase in investment in this sector leads to a 0.0536% boost in economic growth and a 0.329% increase in the private sector. Compared to other forms of infrastructure investment, this sector has a strong impact on the country's economic development. A 1% increase in investment in this sector leads to a 0.0536% boost in economic growth and a 0.329% increase in the private sector. These results allow on the one hand to see the infrastructures which contribute the most to economic growth in a country like Cameroon which is still struggling to take off in its development process. But they will also further densify the public-private partnership which is very important for the quantity but also the quality of infrastructure.

Hepatitis B Care Continuum Models-Data to Inform Public Health Action.

The application of a care continuum model (CCM) can identify gaps in diagnosis, care, and treatment of populations with a common condition, but challenges are inherent in developing a CCM for chronic hepatitis B. In contrast with treatment for HIV or hepatitis C, treatment is not indicated for all people with chronic hepatitis B, clinical endpoints are not clear for those receiving treatment, and those for whom treatment is not indicated remain at risk for complications. This topical review examines the data elements necessary to develop and apply chronic hepatitis B CCMs at the jurisdictional health department level. We conducted a nonsystematic review of US-based publications in Ovid MEDLINE (1946-present), Ovid Embase (1974-present), and Scopus (not date limited) databases, which yielded 724 publications for review. Jurisdictional health departments, if properly supported, could develop locale-specific focused CCMs using person-level chronic hepatitis B registries, updated longitudinally using electronic laboratory reporting data and case reporting data. These CCMs could be applied to identify disparities and improve rates in testing and access to care and treatment, which are necessary to reduce liver disease and chronic hepatitis B mortality. Investments in public health surveillance infrastructure, including substantial enhancements in electronic laboratory reporting and case reporting and the use of supplementary data sources, could enable jurisdictional health departments to develop modified CCMs for chronic hepatitis B that focus, at least initially, on "early" CCM steps, which emphasize optimization of hepatitis B diagnosis, linkage to care, and ongoing clinical follow-up of diagnosed people, all of which can lead to improved outcomes.

The impact of public infrastructure investment on South Africa’s economy: evidence from social accounting matrix and computable general equilibrium-based approaches

AbstractThis paper assesses the general equilibrium impacts of public infrastructure investment in the South African economy, as a case of an emerging economy, by making use of complementary general equilibrium models, such as the social accounting matrix (SAM) multiplier, the Structural Path Analyses (SPA) and the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. Contrary to studies that use partial equilibrium models, this paper shows the importance of an economy-wide model to analyse the effects of public infrastructure investment in an emerging economy. The results of the analysis, based on the SAM and CGE analyses using a 2015 SAM for South Africa, indicate that increasing public economic infrastructure can be an effective way of stimulating the economy in a way that has a positive impact on labour. SPA shows that the leading and most important path of influence is the direct influence of the public infrastructure investment on each formal labour category. However, because the public infrastructure investment does not employ informal labour, this labour account is only indirectly connected via intermediate consumption of the output of the construction sector. These results suggest that an increase in public economic infrastructure could help address the unemployment problem that exacerbates poverty in South Africa.

Public Infrastructure Investment - Enough Bang for the Buck?

Public Infrastructure Investment - Enough Bang for the Buck?

Strategic evaluation of the 2021 Nigeria Climate Change Act: Surmounting challenges, paving the way for success, and envisioning future trajectories

The 2021 Climate Change Act is a pioneering initiative aimed at addressing the pressing global issue of climate change. This study evaluates the Act's impact, and its prospects for achieving energy security, environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and social justice. The paper dissects the hurdles facing the Act and outlines a strategy to realize the Act's ambitions via public investments in green infrastructure, technology, energy efficiency and robust support for renewable energy sources. The study delves into the Act's capacity to shape the trajectory of future climate policies, identifying focal points and strategies essential for its successful implementation. It underscores the Act's potential and the obstacles it must surmount to be an effective instrument for climate change mitigation via reforms. Employing a rigorous doctrinal legal research methodology, this study relies on an extensive array of primary and secondary legal sources. The study unveils the struggle in combating the repercussions of climate change, due to reliance on fossil fuels as a primary revenue source. It concludes that low-carbon energy is an option, recommending the domestication of the CCA, 2021, establishment of a Forest Commission to safeguard forests and advocates the use of windfall and solar energy for a transition towards a green economy.

Urban form in India 1975–2015: Have India's cities become flat?

We focus on two questions in this paper. First, are Indian cities suburbanizing or is their growth compact? Second, what explains the differences in suburbanization or compact growth across cities and regions? We answer these questions using granular, grid-level data from the Global Human Settlements Layer.We take three approaches to understanding the evolution of urban form. First, we explain changes in population density based on concentric rings around the city centre for 100 cities in India. Second, we use these same data to estimate population density gradients in 1975 and 2015. Finally, we use regressions to test hypotheses about relationships between city characteristics and the density gradient.We find that although cities in India densified within their 1975 city limits, they also expanded outward. We find the negative exponential density function is useful for studying urban form in India. South Indian cities and those in urbanized states sprawled more than their northern and less urbanized counterparts. Both the social conditions of central cities such as the literacy rate and the historical pattern of population suburbanization are statistically significantly associated with suburbanization. This suggests the need for greater investment in public infrastructure in central cities to support compact urban growth.

Governmental Investments statistic and tourism at the Balkans

The Balkan region has proved to be a controversial territory. Through a long history and many controversies, the area rose to a popular destination. Common and uncommon elements make it a unique destination. Tourism has provided a sustainable source of revenue, as in every destination. Public investments are an important element of every activity to flourish and to bring private investments. Through public investments in infrastructure, superstructure, and education, we can provide a better tourist experience. In our paper, we discuss 5 countries of the region, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and the Republic of North Macedonia. All of these destinations drew the attention of other countries and investment institutions like China and Russia. To take a look at public investments and tourism development, we compare core national accounts like the Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.), Gross Capital Formation (G.C.F.), Gross Fixed Capital Formation (G.F.C.F.), and the inbound tourism at under investigation countries. Data indicate that there was a slowdown in each country’s economy during COVID-19 but then the production increased (Gross Domestic Product (GDP)). The Gross Capital Formation (G.C.F.) has a stable rate for the first years and then increases for each country. Data for the Gross Capital Formation (G.C.F.) for the tourism industry exist only for Bulgaria and show a decrease and a negative Gross Capital Formation (G.C.F.) indication that assets must have been sold. Data for the Gross Capital Formation (G.C.F.) for the transport equipment and total construction have fluctuations without extreme increases or decreases, showing a stable rate of asset accumulation. The findings from the research conclude that till COVID-19 all the economies had a stable rate of growth, and the decrease in tourism activity had a small impact on the decrease of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), except Bulgaria all the other economies slowed down during COVID era, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (G.F.C.F.) for Montenegro and North Macedonia remained stable for the period under study in contrast of the rest countries that were exhibiting a rise from time to time, the general Gross Capital Formation (G.C.F.) accounts always indicate growth in contrast to sectional accounts as they the total accumulated investments or production. Finally, there is insufficient data for the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (G.F.C.F.) for hospitality and tourism which does not allow the researchers to make any assumption with robust data for either the investments or the capital that occurred in other to be invested in the future.

Social policy, public investment or the environment? Exploring variation in individual-level preferences on long-term policies

This article studies individual-level attitudes towards long-term investment policies using novel survey data for the case of Germany. Building on a budding literature on the relationship between environmental and social policy attitudes, our first contribution to research is to show that citizens, when prompted to think about their support for long-term investment policies, support welfare state related policies such as investments in education and pensions to a greater degree than non-welfare state issues such as public infrastructure investment or renewable energy. Citizens are most supportive of using present-day redistributive policies – in our case: increasing income taxes on the rich – in order to finance long-term investment. We also find evidence that political trust is positively associated with support for long-term investment policies, but in particular investments in education and renewables. Furthermore, our analysis reveals the importance of individual political ideology. These findings have implications for public demand for tackling the long-term issues faced by society today.

Data-driven method for electric vehicle charging demand analysis: Case study in Virginia

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the U.S. will be accelerated by the historic $7.5 billion public investments in EV charging infrastructure. Careful analysis of EV charging demands plays a vital role in understanding the energy requirements, power grid impact, and smart charging management opportunities of EVs. To this end, this paper develops a data-driven trip-chaining-based modeling framework including five steps: Trip data acquisition and preprocessing, EV adoption modeling, travel itinerary synthesis, EV charging demand simulation and EV load profile generation. The developed analysis framework was demonstrated using real-world data for one region in Virginia, U.S. The results show that the proposed modeling framework can work effectively. For the study region in 2040, the predicted number of plug-in EVs is 470,114, resulting in a weekly charging demand of 38,078,127 kWh (55 % home, 9 % work, and 36 % public) in September and 45,920,358 kWh (61 % home, 9 % work, and 30 % public) in February.

How accessibility to schools is not (just) a transport problem: the case of public school choice in the city of Malmö, Sweden

There is currently a lack of studies exploring how transport investments and school admission policies in a city can affect the distribution of accessibility to schools. The aim of this study is to investigate if, for whom, and the ways in which, accessibility to schools can change following (1) a change to the city’s public school admission policy and (2) investments in public transport infrastructure and adjustments to the public transport system. We draw on the case of Malmö, Sweden to examine the potential effects of these changes. This study is focused specifically on those in grades 7–9 (aged approximately 13–15), a group whose independent mobility is starting to take form. A geospatial analysis was carried out in order to compare the change in demographic makeup between school catchment areas (real and hypothetical) before and after the changes were made. The geospatial analysis utilises a cumulative opportunity accessibility model that takes into account typical public transport travel times both before and after these new measures were implemented. Findings indicate that the (hypothetical) school catchment areas have been redistributed to a considerable extent following both interventions, but particularly following the change to the public school admission policy. These redistributions have in turn resulted in changes in the socio-economic characteristics of the hypothetical school catchment areas. While the redistribution of school catchment areas could potentially change the socio-economic composition of schools in Malmö, the effects are not equally distributed throughout the city. While the addition of the new train line was the main focus of this study, it was found that other changes in the public transport system between 2018 and 2019 also played a role in determining which schools students could and could not access. The findings from this study highlight the importance of carefully considering the interaction of different effects when assessing policy alternatives.

Assessing the benefits of high-speed broadband: Lessons from Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN)

This study reviews the economic benefits analysis conducted in 2014 for the National Broadband Network (NBN), one of Australia's largest ever public infrastructure projects. The review identifies that the NBN's benefits were overstated due to error by an estimated $17–20 billion in 2014 present value terms, an amount sufficient to eliminate the NBN's forecast net economic benefits. To provide an updated view on the benefits of high-speed broadband in 2022, a stated choice experiment is conducted, finding that the WTP has grown since 2014 at an annual real rate of 8.8 percent for download speeds and 11.5 percent for upload speeds. Even at these growth rates, however, the benefits of the NBN remain materially lower than forecast in 2014. Further, the analysis finds high heterogeneity in the household WTP, with smaller and lower-income households reluctant to pay a premium for speeds much faster than 50 Mbps, indicating that the adoption of the fastest available broadband speeds is likely to remain low. The study highlights the potential value of cost-benefit analyses, but also the risks, particularly where they are relied on to justify enduring extensions of government ownership and control. The paper concludes by identifying learnings for policymakers and cost-benefit analysis practitioners seeking to assess and optimize the economic value of public infrastructure investments.

How does internet use promote joint adoption of sustainable agricultural practices? Evidence from rice farmers in China

ABSTRACTClimate change and public health emergencies have severely threatened world food security. In response, the Chinese government has actively promoted sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) and emphasized the importance of integrated packages to enhance the development of high-quality agriculture. However, due to information failure, farmers’ adoption rate of SAPs is still very low. Meanwhile, internet use can effectively reduce the cost of information barriers and catalyze farmers to promote the joint adoption of SAPs. This paper aims to theoretically elucidate the logic of how internet use impacts farmers’ joint adoption of SAPs. Empirical analysis based on data from 844 rice farmers in southern China reveals that internet use can significantly promote the joint adoption of SAPs, and adoption behaviours are complementary across multiple technologies. Furthermore, internet use in the group of rice farmers with more farmlands or those receiving subsidies is more inclined to adopt SAPs jointly. These findings suggest that developing countries should prioritize public investment in rural internet infrastructure to facilitate joint adoption of SAPs through farmers’ internet use. The moderate scale of farmland usage and targeted agricultural subsidy policies can further enhance the effectiveness of ICT-based joint adoption of SAPs.

Structure of Financing Public Infrastructure Investments – The Case of Poland

Structure of Financing Public Infrastructure Investments – The Case of Poland

Modeling the Impact of Public Infrastructure investments in the U.S.: A CGE Analysis

AbstractThis study offers a computable general equilibrium analysis of the $550 billion devoted to new infrastructure investment (new and remodeled physical infrastructure for transportation, information and public services) in the United States under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a federal law signed by President Joseph Biden in November 2021. The simulations are based on the state-level distribution of funds and distinguish between the construction phase (short run) and the operational phase (long run). Gross domestic product (GDP) and labor demand react to the government spending stimulus after the first year by growing 0.24% and 0.44%, respectively. The gains derived from this investment plan are higher in the long term once investments increase the country’s capital stock; GDP increases by 1.39% and wages by 3.94%. This paper analyzes the efficiency of the current distribution of funds across sectors, and finds that the current distribution benefits the United States economy more. Even though a slightly higher GDP impact could have been reached (1.42%) if all the funds were devoted to transport services, the price increases would result in lower real wage increases.

Investment timing and length choice for a rail transit line under demand uncertainty

This paper is motivated by the inadequate treatment of uncertainty in public transit infrastructure investments. As observed in the past, rare but dramatic events can heavily disrupt public transit system operations and negatively affect the transit riders. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic caused an 80%-90% transit demand decline in March 2020 in the U.S. However, the existing transit infrastructure planning studies have not modeled such sudden demand shocks. We thus improve the modeling realism of uncertain transit demand by formulating demand evolution as a jump-diffusion process, which is a combination of continuous-time Brownian motion and a discrete counting process, namely Poisson process, and present analytical optimization models for the development of a rail transit line under such uncertainty. We jointly optimize two related decisions, namely the timing for introducing rail transit to a commuter corridor and length choice for the rail line. We refute a misconception that investment in a project should always start immediately if a positive cost saving over the planning horizon is expected. We also find that investment timing and sizing decisions are closely related and behave quite differently for the same change in some parameters, such as the infrastructure construction period. The developed modeling and analysis framework should be transferable to other civil infrastructure development and investment problems under uncertainty.

An analysis of the use of augmented reality and virtual reality as educational resources

AbstractIn recent years, the utilization of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a transformative approach in education, revolutionizing traditional teaching methods. This study seeks to explore the efficacy of AR and VR as pedagogical resources for enhancing the teaching of the solar system. The research process involved the development of an application comprising two modules, AR and VR, which were evaluated to assess their impact on the teaching process. Furthermore, a comparative study was conducted to evaluate the immersiveness, interactivity, and ease of use offered by these technologies. The findings demonstrate that both AR and VR demonstrate promise in supporting the teaching process, with the VR module garnering particularly positive evaluations. However, it is crucial to acknowledge existing barriers in underprivileged communities, where public schools face limited investments in technology infrastructure. These limitations hinder the widespread implementation of such immersive experiences and their potential to foster new knowledge acquisition.