The Role of Seaports in the Process of Economic Growth

Abstract

Seaport activity constitutes an important economic activity in terms of development and integration in the world economic market. The seaport is expected to play an important role in the strengthening of economic growth. The Tunisian government allocated annually a great amount to develop public seaports. The aim of this paper is to measure the impact of public investments of seaports on the economic growth over the period 1987-2014. To attain this objective the empirical study of an econometric model called Cobb-Douglas production function is used. The results show that public investments of seaports generate positive contributions to Tunisian economic growth; first, by direct contribution via its added value; and second, by indirect contributing via development of other economic activity.

Keywords: Seaports, Economic Growth, Public Investment, Tunisia