China is spending around 12% of its GDP on infrastructure; Brazil is spending $300bn on its infrastructure; and India intends to spend $500bn on its infrastructure.
"Good infrastructure has always played a leading role in economic development, from the roads and aqueducts of ancient Rome to Britain's railway boom in the mid-19th century. But never before has infrastructure spending been so large as a share of world GDP. This is partly because more countries are now industrialising than ever before, but also because China and others are investing at a much brisker pace than rich economies ever did. Even at the peak of Britain's railway mania in the 1840s, total infrastructure investment was only around 5% of GDP."
More from this article in the Economist here
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