Transport Infrastructure Investments as a Means of Augmenting the National Competitiveness of Russia

Abstract

The overall goal of the present research is to work out the recommendations for public authorities and business community on establishing favourable economic environment which ultimately yields to the economic growth. The intermediate steps on a way to reaching the ultimate research goal are: • Define the role of infrastructure in the nation’s development and its contribution to economic growth; • Define the role of intermodal transportation in formulating the transport policy; • Identify the factors that make transport be an obstacle to business operations of a firm; • Identify the link between the transport infrastructure improvements and the economic growth; • Work out recommendations to managers of firms that operate within the Russian economic environment and to industrial/transport policy officials on ameliorating the business environment. The thesis contains the literature review examining multiple views on the role of transport in a national economy, including infrastructure investments, which leads to a conclusion that amelioration of transport infrastructure and services is a necessary precondition for the national economic growth. This statement is tested empirically by first identifying the factors that make firms unsatisfied about transport and further by relating the amelioration of transport and the economic growth.