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In many countries, place specific investments in infrastructure are viewed as integral components of territorial development policies. But are these policies fighting market forces of concentration? Or are they adding net value to the national economy by tapping underexploited resources? This paper contributes to the debate on the spatial allocation of infrastructure investments by examining where these investments will generate the highest economic returns "spatial efficiency", and identifying whether there re tradeoffs when infrastructure coverage is made more equitable across regions "spatial equity". The empirical analysis focuses on Uganda and is based on estimating models of firm location choice, drawing on insights from the new economic geography literature. The main findings show that establishments in the manufacturing industry gain from being in areas that offer a diverse mix of economic activities. In addition, availability of power supply, transport links connecting districts to markets, and the supply of skilled workers attract manufacturing activities. Combining all these factors gives a distinct advantage to existing agglomerations along leading areas around Kampala and Jinja. Infrastructure investments in these areas are likely to produce the highest returns compared with investments elsewhere. Public infrastructure investments in other locations are likely to attract fewer private investors, and will pose a spatial efficiencyequity tradeoff. To better integrate lagging regions with the national economy, lessons from the WDR2009 "Reshaping Economic Geography" calling for investments in health and education in lagging areas are likely to be more beneficial.

Accessibility --- Agglomeration economies --- Congestion --- Congestion costs --- Equity implications --- Infrastructure --- Infrastructure development --- Infrastructure policies --- Investments --- Mobility --- Policies --- Road --- Roads --- Transport --- Transport corridors --- Transport costs --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning --- Transport improvements --- Transport infrastructure --- Travel --- Travel times

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This paper examines whether infrastructure investment has contributed to East Asia's economic growth using both a growth accounting framework and cross-country regressions. For most of the variables used, both the growth accounting exercise and cross-country regressions fail to find a significant link between infrastructure, productivity and growth. These conclusions contrast strongly with previous studies finding positive and significant effect for all infrastructure variables in the context of a production function study. This leads us to conclude that results from studies using macro-level data should be considered with extreme caution. The Authors suggest that infrastructure investment may have had the primary function of relieving constraints and bottlenecks as they arose, as opposed to directly encouraging growth.

Banks and Banking Reform --- Bottlenecks --- Capital investment --- Economic Theory and Research --- Economies of scale --- Externalities --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Highway --- Infrastructure investment --- Infrastructure policies --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Non Bank Financial Institutions --- Poverty Reduction --- Pro-Poor Growth --- Road --- Roads --- Transport --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning

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Policy recommendations for infrastructure provision usually build on a well-established understanding of best practice for sector governance. Too rarely are they adapted to the country-specific political environment even if this is an area where policy choices are likely to be subject to private agendas in politics. The fact that such private agendas are often ignored goes a long way toward explaining why infrastructure policies fail and why best practice can be counterproductive. While non-benevolence and rent-seeking are well described in the literature and anecdotes abound, there is only limited consideration of how the different incentive problems in politics impede policy improvements in infrastructure. This paper addresses why politics in infrastructure cannot be ignored, drawing on theoretical results and a systematic review of experiences. It reviews how different private agendas in politics will have different impacts for sector-governance decisions - and hence service delivery. The concept of best practice in policy recommendations should be reconsidered in a wide perspective and allow for tailored solutions based on an understanding of the given incentive problems. Policy recommendations should take into account how coordination trade-offs may complicate efforts to reduce the possible impact of private agendas on infrastructure policy decisions. Although more transparency linked to service delivery indicators is a "safe" recommendation, it is also clear that the demand for good governance will not be sufficient to secure political accountability in a sector with huge vested interests combined with complicated funding schemes and complex contracts.

Accountability --- Economic development --- Environment --- Environmental Economics & Policies --- Good governance --- Governance --- Governance Indicators --- Governance performance --- Infrastructure policies --- National Governance --- Policy decisions --- Policy intervention --- Political accountability --- Political power --- Public Sector Corruption & Anticorruption Measures --- Public Sector Development --- Service delivery --- Transport --- Transport Economics Policy & Planning

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This paper analyzes the impact of infrastructure on growth of total factor productivity and per capita income, using both growth accounting techniques and cross-country growth regressions. The two econometric techniques yield some consistent and some different results. Regressions based in the growth accounting framework suggest that electricity production helps explain cross-country differences in total factor productivity growth in the Middle East and North Africa region. Growth regressions support that conclusion, while also stressing an effect of telecommunications infrastructure. Finally, growth regressions also indicate quite consistently that the returns to infrastructure have been lower in the Middle East and North Africa region than in developing countries as a whole.

E-Business --- Economic Growth --- Elasticity --- Energy --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Externalities --- Infrastructure investment --- Infrastructure policies --- Infrastructures --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Population density --- Population growth --- Private Sector Development --- Pro-Poor Growth --- Rail --- Rail route --- Railroads --- Railway --- Railway lines --- Railways --- Road --- Road network --- Roads --- Route --- Sanitation --- Transport --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning --- True