Impact of infrastructure expenses in strategic sectors for Brazilian poverty

This paper analyzes the impact of infrastructure investments in the reduction of poverty in Brazil, controlled through other determinants such as economic growth, income inequality, average schooling years, unemployment rate and state budgets from 1995 to 2011. A model for a dynamic panel data, estimated by the generalized method of moments (GMM) in two steps as developed by Arellano-Bond (1991) and Blundell-Bond (1998) found among other conclusions, a significant inverse relation between public investment in infrastructure and poverty. The Granger causality test for panel data proposed by Hurlin and Venet (2001, 2004) and Hurlin (2004, 2005) reinforced results validation.