INFRASTRUCTURES AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE SPANISH REGIONS

The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of public capital, the ty pes of infrastructures in which it is invested and their territorial d istribution in the gains in productivity of the private sector in the Spanish regions in the period 1964-91 using panel data techniques to c ontrol for unobserved state specific characteristics. The results obta ined show how the infrastructures most directly linked to the producti ve process present a significant and positive effect on productivity. They also show the importance of the network effect of the infrastruct ures of a productive nature as well as a decrease in the elasticity as sociated with such infrastructures as development progresses.