Description
This study explores the relationship of highway infrastructure and regional economic growth using a labor market model of net migration. Typical net migration model is revised adding variables of demand and supply indicators of highway infrastructure and tested at the U.S. state- and metropolitan areas. This study found positive effects of highway infrastructure on state economic performance; both, the highway services demand indicator and the highway supply indicator performed as expected. Elasticity of net in-migration with respect to the per capita lanemiles of supply measure was between 0.129 and 0.454 and the elasticity with respect to vehicle-miles-traveled per lanemile of congestion measure was between – 0.511 and -0.015. The effects of the highway indicators are, however, weak at the MSA-level analysis, suggesting that highway infrastructure benefits spill over metro area boundaries and are experienced at a wider geographic scale. Soojung Kim is a Senior Research Analyst in the Regional Economics group at the Institute. Her research interests include economic development and transportation infrastructure. Kim has co-authored 2007 and 2008 Best Performing Cities, Institute’s annual report. Kim received her Ph.D. in planning from the University of Southern California.
