Conclusion

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The preceding outlined the sources and methods used to construct the economic indicators within the Infrastructure economic accounts. The concepts and definitions of these economic accounts aligns with the international standard SNA 2008. This framework includes a classification structure that is specific to infrastructure, which is based on the standard classifications for industries, products, and functions of government. In order to estimate the economic variables for these accounts, certain data sources were exploited, new data series were developed and certain methods were employed.

While the framework described in this paper is intended for the development of aggregate infrastructure statistics, it can also be used to assess large individual infrastructure projects. For example, if a government decides to spend a few billion dollars to build a new airport or substantially expand an existing airport, the projected investment outlays, asset lives, capital consumption profile and overall economic impacts could be quantified using this same methodology (with some necessary assumptions about future price changes). As another example, if a government is assessing the priority of possible investment spending to improve an existing sewer system, the current status of that piece of infrastructure could be assessed within this framework if historical investment, lives and prices data can be estimated.

The sources and methods used to develop the variables related to the social and environmental impact from infrastructure will be included in this report once they are developed.