This study analyzes the interaction between legitimacy, innovation, uncertainty, and electric vehicle (EV) purchase intention in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and data from 2016 to 2023, the relationships between these key variables are assessed. The results show that legitimacy has a positive impact on purchase intention, while innovation influences legitimacy but does not directly affect purchase intention. Uncertainty moderates these relationships in complex ways. The findings suggest that enhancing the perception of legitimacy is crucial to increase EV purchase intention, and strategies promoting innovation and managing uncertainty can improve market acceptance.

This study updates Pereira and Pereira by revisiting the macroeconomic and budgetary effects of infrastructure investment in Portugal using a dataset from the Portuguese Ministry of the Economy covering 1980–2019, thereby capturing a period of austerity and decreased investment in the 2010s. A vector-autoregressive approach re-estimates the elasticity and marginal product of twelve infrastructure types on private investment, employment, and output. The most significant long-term accumulated effects on output accrue from investments in airports, ports, health, highways, water, and railroads. In contrast, those in municipal roads, electricity and gas, and refineries are statistically insignificant. All statistically significant infrastructure investments pay for themselves over time through additional tax revenues. Compared to the previous study, highways, water, and ports have more than doubled their estimated marginal products due to a significant increase in relative scarcity over the last decade. In addition, our analysis reveals an important shift in the impacts of infrastructure investment, now producing more substantial immediate effects but weaker long-term impacts. This change offers policymakers a powerful tool for short-term economic stimulus and is particularly useful in addressing immediate economic challenges.