IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/gii/giihei/heidwp12-2024.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Public Investment Quality and its Implications for Sovereign Risk and Debt Sustainability

Author

Listed:

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel index to measure public investment quality, utilizing the World Bank’s investment project performance data from 120 countries over the period 2000-2021. After detailing the construction of the index, the paper examines how public investment quality influences the relationship between the level of public investment and sovereign risk. We find that high levels of public investment are linked to lower sovereign risk in countries with high investment quality, and conversely, to higher sovereign risk in countries with low investment quality. This relationship is especially pronounced in sub-investment grade countries. We corroborate these results by showing that when public investment quality is high, scaling up public investment enhances fiscal sustainability by reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio in the long run: high-quality public investment is self-financing. However, the opposite is true when public investment quality is low, where increased public investment results in a deterioration of fiscal fundamentals.

Suggested Citation

  • Amat Adarov & Ugo Panizza, 2024. "Public Investment Quality and its Implications for Sovereign Risk and Debt Sustainability," IHEID Working Papers 12-2024, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp12-2024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.graduateinstitute.ch/pdfs/Working_papers/HEIDWP12-2024.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barry Eichengreen & Ricardo Hausmann & Ugo Panizza, 2007. "Currency Mismatches, Debt Intolerance, and the Original Sin: Why They Are Not the Same and Why It Matters," NBER Chapters, in: Capital Controls and Capital Flows in Emerging Economies: Policies, Practices, and Consequences, pages 121-170, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Chinn, Menzie D. & Ito, Hiro, 2006. "What matters for financial development? Capital controls, institutions, and interactions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 163-192, October.
    3. Benjamin Born & Gernot J. Müller, 2012. "Government Spending Shocks in Quarterly and Annual Time Series," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(2‐3), pages 507-517, March.
    4. Regis Barnichon & Davide Debortoli & Christian Matthes, 2022. "Understanding the Size of the Government Spending Multiplier: It’s in the Sign," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(1), pages 87-117.
    5. Afonso, António & Tovar Jalles, João & Venâncio, Ana, 2022. "Do financial markets reward government spending efficiency?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Luc Laeven & Fabian Valencia, 2020. "Systemic Banking Crises Database II," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 68(2), pages 307-361, June.
    7. Salvatore Dell’Erba & Ricardo Hausmann & Ugo Panizza, 2013. "Debt levels, debt composition, and sovereign spreads in emerging and advanced economies," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 518-547, AUTUMN.
    8. Denizer, Cevdet & Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart, 2013. "Good countries or good projects? Macro and micro correlates of World Bank project performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 288-302.
    9. Olivier Blanchard & Roberto Perotti, 2002. "An Empirical Characterization of the Dynamic Effects of Changes in Government Spending and Taxes on Output," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1329-1368.
    10. Jay-Hyung Kim & Jonas Arp Fallov & Simon Groom, 2020. "Public Investment Management Reference Guide," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 33368.
    11. Laeven, Luc & Valencia, Fabian, 2020. "Systemic Banking Crises Database: A Timely Update in COVID-19 Times," CEPR Discussion Papers 14569, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Nicola Limodio, 2021. "Bureaucrat Allocation in the Public Sector: Evidence from the World Bank," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(639), pages 3012-3040.
    13. William Easterly & Timothy Irwin & Luis Servén, 2008. "Walking up the Down Escalator: Public Investment and Fiscal Stability," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 23(1), pages 37-56, January.
    14. Abiad (ADB), Abdul & Furceri (IMF and University of Palermo), Davide & Topalova (IMF), Petia, 2016. "The macroeconomic effects of public investment: Evidence from advanced economies," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 224-240.
    15. Jeanneret, Alexandre, 2018. "Sovereign credit spreads under good/bad governance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 230-246.
    16. Shen, Wenyi & Yang, Shu-Chun S. & Zanna, Luis-Felipe, 2018. "Government spending effects in low-income countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 201-219.
    17. Antonio Afonso, 2003. "Understanding the determinants of sovereign debt ratings: Evidence for the two leading agencies," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 56-74, March.
    18. Morozumi, Atsuyoshi & Veiga, Francisco José, 2016. "Public spending and growth: The role of government accountability," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 148-171.
    19. Mora, Nada, 2006. "Sovereign credit ratings: Guilty beyond reasonable doubt?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 2041-2062, July.
    20. Ramzy Al-Amine & Tim Willems, 2023. "Investor Sentiment, Sovereign Debt Mispricing, and Economic Outcomes," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(650), pages 613-636.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eichler, Stefan & Pyun, Ju Hyun, 2022. "Ricardian equivalence, foreign debt and sovereign default risk," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 21-49.
    2. Grobéty, Mathieu, 2018. "Government debt and growth: The role of liquidity," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-22.
    3. Mr. Tidiane Kinda & Andras Lengyel & Kaustubh Chahande, 2022. "Fiscal Multipliers During Pandemics," IMF Working Papers 2022/149, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Magud, Nicolas E. & Pienknagura, Samuel, 2024. "The return of expansionary austerity: Firms' investment response to fiscal adjustments in emerging markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Galindo, Arturo J. & Panizza, Ugo, 2018. "The cyclicality of international public sector borrowing in developing countries: Does the lender matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 119-135.
    6. Cardi, Olivier & Restout, Romain & Claeys, Peter, 2020. "Imperfect mobility of labor across sectors and fiscal transmission," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    7. Herradi, Mehdi El & Leroy, Aurélien, 2022. "The rich, poor, and middle class: Banking crises and income distribution," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    8. Mr. Cian Allen & Camila Casas & Mr. Giovanni Ganelli & Luciana Juvenal & Mr. Daniel Leigh & Mr. Pau Rabanal & Cyril Rebillard & Jair Rodriguez & João Tovar Jalles, 2023. "2022 Update of the External Balance Assessment Methodology," IMF Working Papers 2023/047, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Romanos Priftis & Srec̆ko Zimic, 2021. "Sources of Borrowing and Fiscal Multipliers [Emerging market business cycles: the cycle is the trend]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 498-519.
    10. Aizenman, Joshua & Park, Donghyun & Qureshi, Irfan A. & Saadaoui, Jamel & Salah Uddin, Gazi, 2024. "The performance of emerging markets during the Fed’s easing and tightening cycles: A cross-country resilience analysis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Baussola, Maurizio & Carvelli, Gianni, 2023. "Public and private investments: Long-run asymmetric effects in France and the US," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    12. Liu, Siming, 2022. "Government spending during sudden stop crises," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    13. Pauline AVRIL & Grégory LEVIEUGE & Camélia TURCU, 2021. "Natural Disasters and Financial Stress: Can Macroprudential Regulation Tame Green Swans?," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2913, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    14. Clément Mathonnat & Alexandru Minea & Marcel Voia, 2022. "Does more finance lead to longer crises?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 111-135, January.
    15. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Bayraktar, Nihal, 2023. "Capital requirements and growth in an open economy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    16. Abdul Abiad & Margarita Debuque-Gonzales & Andrea Loren Sy, 2018. "The Evolution and Impact of Infrastructure in Middle-Income Countries: Anything Special?," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(6), pages 1239-1263, May.
    17. Choi, Sangyup & Willems, Tim & Yoo, Seung Yong, 2024. "Revisiting the monetary transmission mechanism through an industry-level differential approach," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    18. Kose, M. Ayhan & Kurlat, Sergio & Ohnsorge, Franziska & Sugawara, Naotaka, 2022. "A cross-country database of fiscal space," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    19. Alloza, Mario & Burriel, Pablo & Pérez, Javier J., 2019. "Fiscal policies in the euro area: Revisiting the size of spillovers," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Makram El‐Shagi & Gregor von Schweinitz, 2022. "Why they keep missing: An empirical investigation of sovereign bond ratings and their timing," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 69(2), pages 186-224, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public investment; Public investment quality; Sovereign risk; Debt sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:gii:giihei:heidwp12-2024. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Dorina Dobre (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ieheich.html .

    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.