Research on the Relationship Between the Length of Superior Road Infrastructure and Foreign Direct Investment in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

High-quality and functional transport infrastructure is one of the basic prerequisites for the rapid development of Slovak regions. Due to the previous problems with planned projects, Slovakia has major shortcomings in the construction of the highway networks, and its quality varies significantly between individual regions. The importance of road infrastructure for the development of regions and the attraction of foreign investments is currently only estimated. The aim of this research is to study this relationship and provide the answers. This study analyzes statistics related to the length of road transport infrastructure, especially highways and expressways, and foreign investments for individual regions in the horizon of the last 9 years before COVID-19 pandemic. The research considers the different size of the territory of the regions, so the density values of the superior road infrastructure in the regions are calculated and used. The results of the correlation analysis showed a strong dependence between the road infrastructure density and foreign direct investment across the study period in Slovakia. However, there was not only a difference in the strength of the relationship between regions, but also in the response time to the change in infrastructure. This finding demonstrates the importance and relevance of superior road infrastructure for the attraction of foreign investors and development of regions, which has its own specific progression for each region.