The impact of governmental highway investments on local economic outcome in the post-highway era

Interest in the role of governmental transportation investments in economic outcomes is on the rise, but empirical evidence on the linkage in the post-highway era is limited and the demonstration remains challenging. This study investigates the linkage at the county level using a mixed-effects model and a panel dataset of Texas from 1990 to 2012. It finds that highway investments have a positive but limited effect on county jobs after controlling for spillover, time lag, and other random effects. The empirical evidence with new data and a flexible modeling technique offer potential for future studies and policy debate.