IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jregsc/v40y2000i2p205-229.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Regional Allocation of Public Investment: Efficiency or Equity?

Author

Listed:
  • Norihiko Yamano
  • Toru Ohkawara

Abstract

In this paper we examine the effect of public investment on the regional economies of Japan. The efficient policy for regional allocation of public capital is to invest in highly productive regions, whereas the actual policy pursues equity goals by allocating more public investment to depressed regions. We determine the effects of this equity‐ oriented allocation by estimating the aggregate regional production function and calculating the productivity of public capital stock for each region, using a cross‐sectional time‐series data set. Our results show that the marginal productivity of public capital has recently declined in most depressed regions, whereas the productivity in developed regions (e.g., Tokyo, Osaka) has increased slightly. We compare alternative policies of allocating public investment and their effects on the regional and national economies using numerical simulations. We then quantitatively describe the trade‐off between the efficient and the equitable allocation of public investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Norihiko Yamano & Toru Ohkawara, 2000. "The Regional Allocation of Public Investment: Efficiency or Equity?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 205-229, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jregsc:v:40:y:2000:i:2:p:205-229
    DOI: 10.1111/0022-4146.00172
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4146.00172
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/0022-4146.00172?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jregsc:v:40:y:2000:i:2:p:205-229. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-4146 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.