The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects at the industry level of public investment in transportation infrastructures in Portugal. The empirical results are based on VAR/ECM models for the Portuguese economy and for eighteen industries covering the whole spectrum of economic activity in the country. These models consider private-sector output, employment and investment as well as public investment. Empirical results at the aggregate level indicate that public investment has a positive effect on both private inputs as well as on private output and that it affects labor productivity positively. These aggregate results, however, hide a wide variety of industry-level effects. In absolute terms, the industries that benefit the most from public investment are Construction, Trade, Transportation, Finance, Real Estate, and Services. In turn, relative to their size, the industries that benefit the most are Mining, Non-Metal Products, Metal Products, Construction, Restaurants, Transportation, and Finance, and, therefore, public investment tends to shift the industry mix toward these industries. Accordingly, our empirical results suggest that although public investment has been a powerful instrument to enhance the long-term economic performance in Portugal it does so in a way that is rather unbalanced across industries.
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Paper provided by Department of Economics, College of William and Mary in its series Working Papers with number
45.
Find related papers by JEL classification: C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
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