| Abstract: | Focusing on core‐infrastructure capital vis‐à‐vis productive capital, we propose a macroeconomic method to estimate their optimal utilisation ratio in production and their relative shortage in any period. The method is based on an adapted two‐gap model, estimated via linear programming, with application to Chile and Mexico over the 1950–2000 period. Core infrastructure appears to support a variable level of productive investment, relative capital shortage alternating and imposing constraints on potential output over time. This suggests an optimal investment trade off, based on a social opportunity cost that derives from the prevailing gap in any period. |
