Our analysis of US state‐level data on an annual frequency, from 1976 to 2008, sheds new light on a plausible causal link between infrastructure investments, namely public spending on highways, and income inequality. This causal relationship is drawn out using the number of seats in the US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations (HRCA) as an instrument to identify quasi‐random variations in state‐level spending on highways. An exogenous pattern which emerges when a state gains an additional member to the HRCA is that it is allocated with new federal grants. This increase in federal transfers for infrastructure financing results in slashing of expenditures on highways and a crowding‐out effect of federal funding for state investments on highways. Spending cuts on highways produced by a new HRCA member being attained by a state can unwittingly cause income inequality to rise over a short 2‐year time horizon. Similar challenges with decentralized development to finance infrastructure via federal transfers to state and sub‐national governments may be encountered by other industrially advanced, emerging and low‐income developing economies. US data over the mentioned period reveal a strong positive correlation with state spending on highways and wages paid for construction jobs. Suggestive evidence indicates that the construction sector also plays an important role in the transmission channel from a rise in state spending on highways to lowering income inequality, albeit during specific intervals, as opposed to on a long‐term basis.

中文翻译：

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基础设施投资对收入不平等的影响：来自美国各州的证据

我们对1976年至2008年美国年度水平数据的分析，为基础设施投资（即公路公共支出与收入不平等）之间的合理因果联系提供了新的思路。这种因果关系是通过使用美国众议院拨款委员会（HRCA）的席位数来确定公路一级州级支出的准随机变化而得出的。当一个州获得HRCA的额外成员时出现的一种外生模式是，它被分配了新的联邦赠款。联邦用于基础设施融资的转移支付的增加导致高速公路支出的削减，以及联邦政府对高速公路投资的资金的挤出效应。由州新获得的HRCA成员生产的高速公路上的支出削减可能会在短短的两年时间内无意间导致收入不平等加剧。其他工业发达的，新兴的和低收入的发展中经济体可能会遇到分散式发展通过联邦向州和地方政府转移资金来为基础设施筹集资金的类似挑战。在上述期间的美国数据显示，该州与高速公路支出和为建筑工作支付的工资之间存在很强的正相关性。有证据表明，从长期来看，尽管在特定的时间间隔内，建筑行业在从国家增加公路支出到降低收入不平等的传播渠道中也起着重要的作用。