IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/69772.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Analyzing economic growth: what role for public investment?

Author

Listed:
  • Oukhallou, Youssef

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of public investment in the determination of output growth from different theoretical and empirical points of view. The light is shed on the factors that allegedly explain the success and/or the failure of public investment policies in enhancing productivity and supporting GDP, based on a review of empirical evidence in advanced and developing economies. The downstream objective is to provide decision makers with a set of general rules-of-thumb that are likely to help them improve the macroeconomic returns of public investment. The latter are found to be significantly influenced by efficiency and profitability-based selectivity of investment projects. Countries with a relatively low capital-labor ratio usually have higher public and private capital profitability, while the public-private investment substitutability increases the likelihood of crowding out effects. The paper also gives hints on the possible existence of an optimal growth-maximizing level of public investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Oukhallou, Youssef, 2016. "Analyzing economic growth: what role for public investment?," MPRA Paper 69772, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:69772
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/69772/1/MPRA_paper_69772.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Frédéric Gonand, 2007. "The Impact on Growth of Higher Efficiency of Public Spending on Schools," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 547, OECD Publishing.
    3. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    4. Romer, Paul, 1993. "Idea gaps and object gaps in economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 543-573, December.
    5. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    6. Francesco Giavazzi & Marco Pagano, 1990. "Can Severe Fiscal Contractions Be Expansionary? Tales of Two Small European Countries," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1990, Volume 5, pages 75-122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. T. W. Swan, 1956. "ECONOMIC GROWTH and CAPITAL ACCUMULATION," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 334-361, November.
    8. Abramovitz, Moses, 1986. "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 385-406, June.
    9. Jordi Galí & J. David López-Salido & Javier Vallés, 2007. "Understanding the Effects of Government Spending on Consumption," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(1), pages 227-270, March.
    10. Mustafa Ismihan & Aysit Tansel & Kivilcim Metin-Ozcan, 2002. "Macroeconomic Instability, Capital Accumulation and Growth : The Case of Turkey 1963-1999," Working Papers 0205, Department of Economics, Bilkent University.
    11. Gregory C. Chow, 1993. "Capital Formation and Economic Growth in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 809-842.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11044 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Gupta, Sanjeev & Kangur, Alvar & Papageorgiou, Chris & Wane, Abdoul, 2014. "Efficiency-Adjusted Public Capital and Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 164-178.
    14. Paolo Mauro, 2004. "The Persistence of Corruption and Slow Economic Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 51(1), pages 1-1.
    15. Fosu, Augustin Kwasi & Getachew, Yoseph Yilma & Ziesemer, Thomas H.W., 2016. "Optimal Public Investment, Growth, And Consumption: Evidence From African Countries," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(8), pages 1957-1986, December.
    16. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    17. Nigel James Miller & Christopher Tsoukis, 2001. "On the optimality of public capital for long-run economic growth: evidence from panel data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(9), pages 1117-1129.
    18. Jonathan Temple, 1999. "The New Growth Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 112-156, March.
    19. Robert J. Barro, 1998. "Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262522543, December.
    20. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2005. "Public sector efficiency: An international comparison," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 321-347, June.
    21. Edward C. Prescott & Stephen L. Parente, 1999. "Monopoly Rights: A Barrier to Riches," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1216-1233, December.
    22. Barro, Robert J, 1979. "Second Thoughts on Keynesian Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(2), pages 54-59, May.
    23. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    24. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    25. Andrew Berg & Edward F. Buffie & Catherine Pattillo & Rafael Portillo & Andrea F. Presbitero & Luis‐Felipe Zanna, 2019. "Some Misconceptions About Public Investment Efficiency and Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(342), pages 409-430, April.
    26. Stern, Nicholas, 1991. "The Determinants of Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(404), pages 122-133, January.
    27. Sturm, Jan Egbert & de Haan, Jakob, 1995. "Is public expenditure really productive?: New evidence for the USA and The Netherlands," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 60-72, January.
    28. Stefan Mittnik & Thorsten Neumann, 2001. "Dynamic effects of public investment: Vector autoregressive evidence from six industrialized countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 429-446.
    29. Augustin Kwasi Fosu & Yoseph Getachew & Thomas H.W. Ziesemer, 2014. "Optimal Public Investment, Growth, and Consumption: Fresh Evidence from African Countries," Working Papers 201464, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    30. Ejaz Ghani & Musleh-Ud Din, 2006. "The Impact of Public Investment on Economic Growth in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 87-98.
    31. 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, Oxford University Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1329-1368.
    32. Pranab Bardhan, 1997. "Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1320-1346, September.
    33. Blanchard, Olivier J, 1985. "Debt, Deficits, and Finite Horizons," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(2), pages 223-247, April.
    34. Kormendi, Roger C. & Meguire, Philip G., 1985. "Macroeconomic determinants of growth: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 141-163, September.
    35. Buchanan, James M, 1976. "Barro on the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(2), pages 337-342, April.
    36. R. Milbourne & G. Otto & G. Voss, 2003. "Public investment and economic growth," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 527-540.
    37. Voss, Graham M., 2002. "Public and private investment in the United States and Canada," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 641-664, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mouna MARZOUK & Youssef OUKHALLOU, 2017. "Fiscal policy and the Ricardian equivalence: Empirical evidence from Morocco," Journal of Economics Library, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 372-381, September.
    2. Andrew K. Kamenju & Dr. T. Olweny, 2021. "The Nexus Between Internal Investment and Economic Growth in Kenya," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 11(2), pages 1-2.

    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. Minea, Alexandru, 2008. "The Role of Public Spending in the Growth Theory Evolution," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 5(2), pages 99-120, June.
    2. Folster, Stefan & Henrekson, Magnus, 1999. "Growth and the public sector: a critique of the critics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 337-358, June.
    3. Ibrar Hussain & Zahoor Khan & Muhmmad Rafiq, 2017. "Compositional Changes in Public Expenditure and Economic Growth: Time Series Evidence from Pakistan," Business & Economic Review, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, March.
    4. Alan M. Taylor, 1995. "Growth and Convergence in the Asia-Pacific Region: On the Role of Openness, Trade and Migration," NBER Working Papers 5276, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Silvia Bertarelli, 2006. "Public capital and growth," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 361-398.
    6. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2000. "Growth in an open economy: some recent developments," Working Paper Research 05, National Bank of Belgium.
    7. Halkos, George & Paizanos, Epameinondas, 2015. "Fiscal policy and economic performance: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature," MPRA Paper 67737, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Ulaşan, Bülent, 2012. "Cross-country growth empirics and model uncertainty: An overview," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-69.
    9. Magrini, Stefano, 2004. "Regional (di)convergence," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 62, pages 2741-2796, Elsevier.
    10. Giuseppe Di Liddo & Cosimo Magazzino & Francesco Porcelli, 2015. "Decentralization, Growth And Optimal Government Size In The Italian Regional Framework," Working Papers 0115, CREI Università degli Studi Roma Tre, revised 2015.
    11. Ruttan, Vernon W., 1998. "Growth Economics And Development Economics: What Should Development Economists Learn (If Anything) From The New Growth Theory?," Bulletins 12972, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    12. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Mehmet Ugur & Siew Ling Yew, 2017. "Does Government Size Affect Per-Capita Income Growth? A Hierarchical Meta-Regression Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(300), pages 142-171, March.
    13. Poot, Jacques, 1999. "A meta-analytic study of the role of government in long-run economic growth," ERSA conference papers ersa99pa171, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Celal Kucuker, 2003. "Türkiye Ýktisat Kongresi Büyüme Stratejileri Çalýþma Grubu," Working Papers 2003/5, Turkish Economic Association.
    15. Tarlok Singh, 2012. "Does public capital crowd-out or crowd-in private capital in India?," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 109-133, June.
    16. Krasnopjorovs, Olegs, 2013. "Latvijas ekonomikas izaugsmi noteicošie faktori [Factors of Economic Growth in Latvia]," MPRA Paper 47550, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Ejaz Ghani & Musleh-Ud Din, 2006. "The Impact of Public Investment on Economic Growth in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 87-98.
    18. Hüseyin Şen & Ayşe Kaya & Ayşegül Durucan, 2023. "New insights into the growth-maximizing size of government: evidence and implications for Turkey," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2243-2296, August.
    19. Wanjuu Zungwe Lazarus & Hlalefang Khobai & Pierre Le Roux, 2017. "Government Size and Economic Growth in Africa and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Countries," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(4), pages 628-637.
    20. Nazrul Islam, 2003. "What have We Learnt from the Convergence Debate?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 309-362, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    GDP growth; Public Investment; Productivity; Private Investment; Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    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:pra:mprapa:69772. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.