Productivity Differences Between and Within Countries

Government Quality and the Economic Returns of Transport Infrastructure Investment in European Regions

“…Having acknowledged these limitations, our findings still offer relevant insights for economic development policies in Europe. First, the results of the analysis contribute to the increasing number of studies recognizing improvements of local institutions as a necessary prerequisite for efficient public spending, in general, and infrastructure investment, in particular (Acemoglu and Dell, 2010;Rodríguez-Pose and Di Cataldo, 2015;Rodríguez-Pose and Garcilazo, 2015). As Esfahani and Ramírez (2003) put it, "achieving better [economic] outcomes requires institutional and organizational reforms that are more fundamental than simply designing infrastructure projects and spending money on them" (Esfahani and Ramírez, 2003, p. 471).…”

“…One crucial factor behind the returns of transport infrastructure which has so far attracted limited attention is linked to the institutional conditions in each territory. The system of incentives and constraints shaped by local institutions and the efficiency of the local political administration influence the total returns to investment in transport infrastructure (Crain and Oakley, 1995;Henisz, 2002;Acemoglu and Dell, 2010). Political and institutional factors may influence both infrastructure spending and its economic returns at every phase of the investment (Esfahani and Ramirez, 2003).…”

“…The local institutional environment in which investments are made will affect the scale and type of new infrastructure investments and, consequently, their economic returns. Poor institutions enhance the opportunities for private gain, undermining sound provision of public goods (Acemoglu and Dell, 2010). In weak government quality conditions, new investment in transport infrastructure may respond more to political and individual interests than to economic and collective ones (Crain and Oakley, 1995;Henisz, 2002).…”

The Contribution of Regions to Aggregate Growth in the OECD

“…Indeed, heterogeneity in regional performance is a stylized fact among the countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) (OECD, 2009), both among similar type of regions (e.g., urban, intermediate, and rural) and across regions within the same country. The fact that heterogeneity persists over time suggests that cumulative factors at the regional level yield significant differences in productivity and consequently income levels among regions (Acemoglu and Dell 2010). This contrasts with the view that income differences will eventually even out as corrective market forces will induce firms to move to areas where labor is cheaper, or labor will to move to areas where wages are higher.…”

Complex Issues of Regional Growth Dependence on the Level of Financial Sector Development

“…There are very few such extensive empirical studies in Russia, despite the fact that many of these reforms, from small business to innovation, from labor market to the financial sphere, have been thoroughly analyzed in foreign scholarly works, including an assessment of the impact of potential impulses on economic outcomes, including the regional level 1 [1][2][3][4].…”