Transport infrastructure and regional growth: Evidence from roads and railways across the EBRD regions

This Brief reports on recent EBRD research that estimates the impact of major investments to upgrade roads across Turkey as well as roads and railways in the Western Balkans.

Evaluating the impact of transport infrastructure is challenging but important. New or improved transport routes can foster economic integration and have substantial economic benefits. These benefits may nevertheless vary considerably across regions and sectors, depending on how the new infrastructure changes access to buyers, suppliers and workers. This Impact Brief reports on recent EBRD research that estimates the impact of major investments to upgrade roads across Turkey as well as roads and railways in the Western Balkans. These analyses incorporate unique data at finely disaggregated geographic levels and use models to assess the impact of transport upgrades on local production, redistribution of the workforce and the wellbeing of households.