The effects of transport infrastructure investments on commuting : In Sweden

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of transport infrastructure investments on commuting. This is an exciting topic because when the transport infrastructure becomes more developed in an economy, it can also increase the accessibility for labor, enabling them to take advantage of more labor opportunities and even lower unemployment. A fixed-effects model was estimated, and the variables included were chosen after revising literature and data availability. The data used in the estimation of the model comes from Statistics Sweden, it covers all the 290 municipalities in Sweden, and the data is for the years 2011-2019. The results from the regression models found a significant effect for transport infrastructure investments on commuting, and the effect was found to be instant rather than lagged. These findings suggest that there is a relationship between investments into the transport infrastructure and the number of individuals that commute both into and out of municipalities. The results could mean that the investments have enabled labor to allocate themselves more efficiently when it comes to their workplace and that individuals can access more labor opportunities. The implication from the concluding results is that Swedish municipalities most likely have policymakers that properly handle investments into the transport infrastructure as labor may reap the benefits of the investments in the same period they are made.