This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

The Productivity of Public Capital: Evidence from the 1994 Electoral Reform of Japan

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Daiji Kawaguchi
Fumio Ohtake
Keiko Tamada

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

This paper attempts to estimate the causal effect of public capital stock on production using Japanese prefectural data. We first articulate the difficulty of consistently estimating the regional-level production function with public capital due to the endogeneity of the public capital stock amount. As the central government allocates most of the public capital across regions in Japan, the stock amount of public capital could be endogenous because it could be allocated to either booming regions to support private activity or to stagnating regions to help them become more productive. The endogeneity of public capital is more serious when local governments make decisions regarding public capital investments, as in the US, because such decisions are directly affected by local governments' budgetary constraints. We need an exogenous variation of public capital investment across regions in order to estimate the causal effect of public capital on production. Japan's electoral reform in 1994 offers an exogenous variation of this sort. The reform drastically changed the distribution of political representation in the Lower House across regions, and it accordingly changed the allocation of public capital across regions as well. The productivity of public capital based on this natural experimental identification strategy indicates higher productivity due to public capital than indicated by the OLS estimation.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/dp/2005/DP0627.pdf
File Format:
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University in its series ISER Discussion Paper with number 0627.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Feb 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0627

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 6-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047
Fax: 81-6-6878-2766
Email:
Web page: http://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Fumiko Matsumoto).

Related research
Keywords:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Steven Meyer & Shigeto Naka, 1998. "Legislative influences in Japanese budgetary politics," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 267-288, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Chandra, Amitabh & Thompson, Eric, 2000. "Does public infrastructure affect economic activity?: Evidence from the rural interstate highway system," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 457-490, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Norihiko Yamano & Toru Ohkawara, 2000. "The Regional Allocation of Public Investment: Efficiency or Equity?," Journal of Regional Science, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(2), pages 205-229. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Ai, Chunrong & Cassou, Steven P., 1997. "On public capital analysis with state data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 209-212, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Meyer, Steven A & Naka, Shigeto, 1998. " Legislative Influences in Japanese Budgetary Politics," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 94(3-4), pages 267-88, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Lovely, Mary E., 1996. "Scale economies, returns to variety, and the productivity of public infrastructure," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 105-123, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Evans, Paul & Karras, Georgios, 1994. "Are Government Activities Productive? Evidence from a Panel of U.S. States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(1), pages 1-11, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Burnside, A. Craig & Eichenbaum, Martin S. & Rebelo, Sergio T., 1996. "Sectoral Solow residuals," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 861-869, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? You may want to explore EconPapers, which displays the same data as IDEAS in a different way.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-16.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.