Search

Copyright of Revue d'Économie Régionale & urbaine is the property of Librairie Armand Colin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The need to renew civil infrastructure is particularly acute in urban centres. However, investment in infrastructure renewal has different economic implications compared with new construction, mainly having multiplier effects as opposed to real effects. Statistical techniques are used to study the factors that influence private sector commercial, industrial, and residential construction starts in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Regression equations for the construction sector are incorporated into a macroeconomic model of the GTA. This model is used to study the impacts of public construction spending on the GTA economy. Impacts produced by infrastructure investment are not limited to the construction industry but are seen over the whole economy. In the model simulation, a CAN$1.75 billion road investment in the second quarter of 1994 produced an additional CAN$375 million increase in regional gross domestic product (GDP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]