Infrastructure and its role in Brazil's development process

Abstract

This article considers the relationship between growth and infrastructure spending in the Brazilian contexto and the nature and causes of infrastructural underinvestment. The paper begins by considering the relationship between infrastructural investment and economic growth on both a national and regional basis. Next, focusing on the critical urban transportation sector, the paper gauges the infrastructural shortfall facing Brazil and the policies designed to overcome it. Given the obvious importance of infrastructure, why has investment not been higher? In the final section we argue that a central reason for this lies in regulatory design and implementation.