ASSESMENT OF THE IMPACT OF TRANSPORT INFRASRTUCTURE ON REGIONAL ECENOMIC GROWTH

The article examines the impact of transport infrastructure development on regional economic growth in Russia. The transport sector plays a key role in ensuring labor mobility, improving the efficiency of logistics processes, enhancing the investment attractiveness of territories, and reducing spatial disparities. However, the extent of its influence on regional economic development is uneven and largely depends on the socio-economic conditions of each territory. The analysis is based on panel data covering 82 Russian regions for the period 2015–2022. To obtain robust estimates, the generalized method of moments (GMM) was applied, which makes it possible to account for variable endogeneity and the dynamic nature of the processes under study. The findings demonstrate that, at the national level, the influence of transport infrastructure on economic growth is statistically insignificant, which can be explained by the spatial heterogeneity of its effects. In more developed regions, the qualitative characteristics of the transport network have a positive impact on GRP growth, while in remote and less developed territories, the effect is constrained by external factors such as low population density and weak investment activity.