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Regional productivity variation and the impact of public capital stock: an analysis with spatial interaction, with reference to Spain

Author

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  • Miguel Gomez-Antonio

    (Economía Aplicada VI - UCM - Universidad Complutense de Madrid = Complutense University of Madrid [Madrid])

  • Bernard Fingleton

    (Economics - University of Strathclyde [Glasgow])

Abstract

In this paper we examine whether variations in the level of public capital across Spain's Provinces affected productivity levels over the period 1996-2005. The analysis is motivated by contemporary urban economics theory, involving a production function for the competitive sector of the economy ('industry') which includes the level of composite services derived from 'service' firms under monopolistic competition. The outcome is potentially increasing returns to scale resulting from pecuniary externalities deriving from internal increasing returns in the monopolistic competition sector. We extend the production function by also making (log) labour efficiency a function of (log) total public capital stock and (log) human capital stock, leading to a simple and empirically tractable reduced form linking productivity level to density of employment, human capital and public capital stock. The model is further extended to include technological externalities or spillovers across provinces. Using panel data methodology, we find significant elasticities for total capital stock and for human capital stock, and a significant impact for employment density. The finding that the effect of public capital is significantly different from zero, indicating that it has a direct effect even after controlling for employment density, is contrary to some of the earlier research findings which leave the question of the impact of public capital unresolved.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Gomez-Antonio & Bernard Fingleton, 2011. "Regional productivity variation and the impact of public capital stock: an analysis with spatial interaction, with reference to Spain," Post-Print hal-00712377, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00712377
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.579068
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00712377
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    2. Arbués, Pelayo & Baños, José F. & Mayor, Matías, 2015. "The spatial productivity of transportation infrastructure," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 166-177.
    3. Bernard Fingleton & Miguel Gómez-Antonio, 2009. "Analysing the impact of public capital stock using the NEG wage equation: a panel data approach," Working Papers 0912, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    4. Holl, Adelheid, 2013. "Firm location and productivity in Spain," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 25, pages 27-42.
    5. Elías Melchor-Ferrer, 2020. "Determinants of labour productivity growth in Spanish and Portuguese regions: a spatial shift-share approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(1), pages 45-65, August.
    6. Esteban Fernández-Vázquez, 2014. "Estimating the effect of technological factors from samples affected by collinearity: a data-weighted entropy approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 717-731, September.
    7. Don J Webber & Gail A Webber & Sebastian Berger & Peter Bradley, 2018. "Explaining productivity in a poor productivity region," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(1), pages 157-174, February.
    8. Mª De La Palma GóMez-Calero & José Antonio Molina & María del P. Pablo-Romero, 2014. "Research Note: Exploring the Effect of Tourism on Economic Growth in the Spanish Provinces and Autonomous Communities, 1999–2008," Tourism Economics, , vol. 20(5), pages 1117-1124, October.
    9. Federico Aresu & Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2023. "Public capital and institutions' quality in the Italian regions," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(5), pages 1284-1308, November.
    10. Shuai Liu & Xiao-Yu Xu & Kai Zhao & Li-Ming Xiao & Qi Li, 2021. "Understanding the Complexity of Regional Innovation Capacity Dynamics in China: From the Perspective of Hidden Markov Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    11. Rhydian James & Peter Midmore & Dennis Thomas, 2012. "Public Sector Size and Peripherality," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 447-460, December.

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    Keywords

    Social Sciences & Humanities;

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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