An Economic Study About How Responsive Is Poverty to Infrastructure Development: An Insight from Egypt

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to estimate the link between poverty alleviation as the first goal of the UN SDGs and infrastructure development in Egypt for the (2000-2022) time span.Design/methodology/approach – The researcher utilized 4 main independent variables (energy, water and sanitation, transport, and telecommunications) categorized under the wide infrastructure sector and poverty rate ($3.20 per day - share of population below poverty line) as an independent variable using the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique.Findings – The ARDL test results suggest that infrastructure development (basic facilities) and GDP per capita have a positive impact on the poverty rate in Egypt in both the long run and the short run. Although telephone subscriptions reduce the poverty rate, that may occur because they contribute to economic activities and generate income for individuals and firms.Originality/value – This study is an attempt to investigate the link between infrastructure development and poverty alleviation empirically in Egypt using the auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique.