The Hard Hat Professional

As countries grow, they need better transportation, energy, and communications networks. But how should a country go about prioritizing these investments? Are there synergies from coordinating them? Should they be done simultaneously or sequentially? Two recent World Bank studies focusing on Brazil, a country that has rolled out massive infrastructure investments over the past decades address these questions. Economists tell us that infrastructure is key to development. Not only is infrastructure crucial for people to go about their daily lives, but it also has major impacts on productivity (think, e.g., electrification of production) and access to markets (through faster and cheaper transportation of goods). Even more importantly, infrastructure investments are needed for countries to transition from agrarian to more diversified industrial and service-oriented economies, offering more economic opportunities to improve living standards and reduce poverty. 3 KEY POLICY INSIGHTS FROM BRA