Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth in South Africa: A Review of the Accumulated Evidence

Fedderke, Johannes and Garlick, Robert (2008): Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth in South Africa: A Review of the Accumulated Evidence.

Abstract

This paper provides a broad overview of the relationship between infrastructure and growth, focusing on the South African case. The paper develops an intuitive theoretical framework in which to analyse this relationship, identifying five specific channels through which infrastructure may affect growth: as a factor of production, a complement to other factors of production, a stimulus to factor accumulation, a stimulus to aggregate demand and a tool of industrial policy. A framework is developed for evaluating empirical analyses of this relationship, which explores the implications of different definitions and measures of infrastructure and of potential data and estimation challenges. The empirical literature on South Africa is then assessed against this framework.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: growth, infrastructure
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O18 - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis ; Housing ; Infrastructure; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy > O20 - General; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O47 - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth ; Aggregate Productivity ; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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