The efficiency of transport infrastructure investment and the role of government quality: An empirical analysis

In this article we analyze the efficiency of total transport investment in a sample of 34 countries over the period 1996 to 2010. We do so by way of Data Envelopment Analysis that evaluates countries according to their ability to achieve the maximum attainable infrastructure quantity and usage for a given investment volume. We find that the Central European countries, New Zealand and Japan are the most efficient when investing in transport infrastructure while the Eastern European countries, Russia, Turkey and Mexico are the least so. We moreover consider the role played by government quality when explaining cross-country differences in investment efficiency, based on truncated panel (and bootstrapped) regressions. We confirm the positive impact of government quality on efficiency even after controlling for a range of potentially confounding variables. Our analysis generates important policy implications for those concerned with the efficiency of transport infrastructure.