Growth Off the Rails: Aggregate Productivity Growth in Distorted Economies
利用19世纪美国铁路扩张数据，研究发现铁路显著提高了全国总生产率，且考虑资源错配后，铁路的经济收益远超以往估计，对研究基础设施与经济增长关系的学者有参考价值。
We examine aggregate economic gains in the United States as the railroad network expanded in the nineteenth century. Using data from the Census of Manufactures, we estimate relative increases in county aggregate productivity from relative increases in county market access. In general equilibrium, we find that the railroads substantially increased national aggregate productivity. By accounting for input distortions, we estimate much larger aggregate economic gains from the railroads than previous estimates. Our estimates highlight how broadly-used infrastructure or technologies can have much larger economic impacts when there are inefficiencies in the economy.