Employment and Gross Value Added Generated by Port Infrastructures: A Bibliographical Review and Empirical Findings to Support Policy Maker Decisions

Abstract

A relevant factor to be considered by policy makers is the economic impact of their decisions on port investments. A structured system for assessing the economic impact of port infrastructures was developed in the mid-60s in the USA. From then, a great number of works in this field has been carried out considering different geographical environments and using different methodologies and approaches. In this work, a complete set of 27 Spanish ports are reviewed, first from a chronological point of view and later establishing a comparative analysis of different indicators of port product­­­ivity. Special focus is put on comparing the contribution of the ports in generating employment and creating Gross Value Added generated in the local and regional economy. Direct, indirect, and induced impacts in both the port industry and the industry dependent on the existence of the port and its activities are considered.