An empirical approach to public capital, infrastructure, and economic activity : a critical review

The economic literature recognises the importance of public capital – commonly associated to infrastructure – as an additional factor in the production process, along with labour and private capital. This paper presents a critical review of the latest research assessing the link between public capital and national income from different perspectives. It is shown that empirical studies have been relatively successful in evidencing the importance of public capital on economic activity. However, more research in this field is needed, as there are still important caveats to be looked into.© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved