Waiting for the Train: Territorial Productivity and the High-speed Rail Project in Mexico

In Mexico, there is no high-speed rail service, but the transportation infrastructure is associated with economic development. This article studies the effect that a high-speed route linking Guadalajara with the Port of Veracruz would have on productivity if it existed. For this, intensive production functions were estimated adding accessibility indices as regressors; the main source of information was economic censuses. As expected it was found that the existence of a high-speed transport service would increase labor productivity. This evidence serves as an input to analyze the financial viability of transport projects.