Using infrastructure investments for growth and employment

Investments in high-quality transport infrastructure enhance the quality of the region as a business location. This increases employment and economic output. "The right investments in infrastructure are a catalyst for more growth and employment," says Wolfgang Schwarzbauer, head of the economic and infrastructure policy research department at the economic research institute EcoAustria. "As a result, there is more additional tax revenue for the public sector, which partly finances the investment costs itself," says Schwarzbauer.

Based on the newly developed EcoAustria regional model, the effects of transport infrastructure investments can be presented at regional level, for the federal states and Austria as a whole, as well as for other regions in Europe. The model also allows different infrastructure projects to be compared with each other and prioritized based on their impact.

In a study published today on behalf of the Lower Austrian state government, EcoAustria analyzed transport measures that affect the Weinviertel region.

These include the commissioning of individual sections of the A5 and public transport measures between 2007 and 2017. "Thanks to the infrastructure investments in the Weinviertel region, Austria's gross domestic product will be 1.8 billion euros or 0.6% higher over the next 30 years than it would have been without these measures," explains Schwarzbauer. In Lower Austria, GDP will even increase by 1.6% or 810 million euros. Across Austria, around 10,500 more people are expected to be employed over the next 30 years as a result of the infrastructure investments. Lower Austria accounts for around 4,900 of these. "The positive economic effects are associated with fiscal returns amounting to EUR 720 million. This means that one third of the infrastructure investments in the Weinviertel are self-financing," says Schwarzbauer.

The results show that transport infrastructure investments in Austria can have a considerable impact despite the relatively high quality of the existing infrastructure and that the associated degree of self-financing is just as impressive. The EcoAustria regional model can therefore help to optimize the impact of infrastructure investments and achieve a more efficient use of public funds, according to the conclusion of the EcoAustria study.