IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tiu/tiutis/e841076c-c1df-4617-a1bd-981066c6bc18.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Productive is Public Capital? A Meta-Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Duarte Bom, P.R.

    (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management)

  • Ligthart, J.E.

    (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management)

Abstract

The paper analyzes the contribution of public capital to private output using several meta-analytical techniques. Both fixed and random effects models are estimated by Weighted Least Squares. Sample overlap across studies is explicitly controlled for by employing a ‘full’ Generalized Least Squares estimator. The weighted average output elasticity of public capital amounts to 0.08 after correcting for publication bias. A substantial part of the heterogeneity across studies is explained by study design parameters, such as econometric specification, estimation technique, empirical model, type of public capital, and level of aggregation of public capital data. The large elasticities of public capital found in the early literature seem to be caused by either unidentified (but present) cointegrating relationships or spurious relationships in national time series.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Duarte Bom, P.R. & Ligthart, J.E., 2008. "How Productive is Public Capital? A Meta-Analysis," Other publications TiSEM e841076c-c1df-4617-a1bd-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:tiu:tiutis:e841076c-c1df-4617-a1bd-981066c6bc18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://pure.uvt.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/941747/2008-10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kevin T. Duffy-Deno & Randall W. Eberts, 1996. "Public Infrastructure and Regional Economic Development: A Simultaneous Equations Approach," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Niles Hansen & Kenneth J. Button & Peter Nijkamp (ed.),Regional Policy and Regional Integration, pages 295-309, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Jerome Creel & Gwenaelle Poilon, 2008. "Is public capital productive in Europe?," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 673-691.
    3. Alicia H. Munnell, 1991. "Is there a shortfall in public capital investment? An overview," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue May, pages 23-35.
    4. Gramlich, Edward M, 1994. "Infrastructure Investment: A Review Essay," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 1176-1196, September.
    5. John A. Tatom, 1991. "Public capital and private sector performance," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 3-15.
    6. Pinnoi, Nat, 1994. "Public infrastructure and private production measuring relative contributions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 127-148, March.
    7. David Owyong & Shandre Thangavelu, 2001. "An empirical study on public capital spillovers from the USA to Canada," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(11), pages 1493-1499.
    8. Merriman, David, 1991. "Public capital and regional output : Another look at some Japanese and American data," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 437-458, February.
    9. Otto, Glenn & Voss, Graham M, 1994. "Public Capital and Private Sector Productivity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 70(209), pages 121-132, June.
    10. Dessus, Sebastien & Herrera, Remy, 2000. "Public Capital and Growth Revisited: A Panel Data Assessment," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 407-418, January.
    11. Stephanie Aubert & Andreas Stephan, 2000. "Regional Infrastructure Policy and its Impact on Productivity: A Comparison of Germany and France," CIG Working Papers FS IV 00-02, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    12. Christophe Kamps, 2006. "New Estimates of Government Net Capital Stocks for 22 OECD Countries, 1960-2001," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 53(1), pages 1-6.
    13. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    14. Robert Eisner, 1991. "Infrastructure and regional economic performance: comment," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Sep, pages 47-58.
    15. Joseph Berechman & Dilruba Ozmen & Kaan Ozbay, 2006. "Empirical analysis of transportation investment and economic development at state, county and municipality levels," Transportation, Springer, vol. 33(6), pages 537-551, November.
    16. Kemmerling, Achim & Stephan, Andreas, 2002. "The Contribution of Local Public Infrastructure to Private Productivity and Its Political Economy: Evidence from a Panel of Large German Cities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 113(3-4), pages 403-424, December.
    17. Raymond Batina, 1998. "On the Long Run Effects of Public Capital and Disaggregated Public Capital on Aggregate Output," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(3), pages 263-281, July.
    18. Ratner, Jonathan B., 1983. "Government capital and the production function for U.S. private output," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 213-217.
    19. Alicia H. Munnell, 1990. "How does public infrastructure affect regional economic performance?," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, vol. 34, pages 69-112.
    20. Berndt, Ernst & Hansson, Bengt, 1992. "Measuring the Contribution of Capital in Sweden," Working Paper Series 365, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/963 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Mitsuhiko Kataoka, 2005. "Effect Of Public Investment On The Regional Economies In Postwar Japan," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 115-139, July.
    23. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas, 1994. "Public-Sector Capital and the Productivity Puzzle," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(1), pages 12-21, February.
    24. Delorme, Charles Jr. & Thompson, Herbert Jr. & Warren, Ronald Jr., 1999. "Public Infrastructure and Private Productivity: A Stochastic-Frontier Approach," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 563-576, July.
    25. Garcia-Mila, Teresa & McGuire, Therese J., 1992. "The contribution of publicly provided inputs to states' economies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 229-241, June.
    26. Hirotada Kohno & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot (ed.), 2000. "Regional Cohesion and Competition in the Age of Globalization," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1577.
    27. Bajo-Rubio, Oscar & Sosvilla-Rivero, Simon, 1993. "Does public capital affect private sector performance? : An analysis of the Spanish case, 1964-1988," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 179-185, July.
    28. Alicia H. Munnell, 1992. "Policy Watch: Infrastructure Investment and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 189-198, Fall.
    29. Cadot, Olivier & Röller, Lars-Hendrik & Stephan, Andreas, 1999. "A Political Economy Model of Infrastructure Allocation: An Empirical Assessment," CEPR Discussion Papers 2336, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    30. Manh Vu Le & Terukazu Suruga, 2005. "Foreign direct investment, public expenditure and economic growth: the empirical evidence for the period 1970-2001," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 45-49.
    31. Garcia-Mila, Teresa & McGuire, Therese J & Porter, Robert H, 1996. "The Effect of Public Capital in State-Level Production Functions Reconsidered," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 177-180, February.
    32. Ward Romp & Jakob De Haan, 2007. "Public Capital and Economic Growth: A Critical Survey," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(S1), pages 6-52, April.
    33. David Alan Aschauer, 1989. "Public investment and productivity growth in the Group of Seven," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 13(Sep), pages 17-25.
    34. Eliana La Ferrara & Massimiliano Marcellino, "undated". "TFP, Costs, and Public Infrastructure: An Equivocal Relationship," Working Papers 176, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    35. Federico Bonaglia & Eliana La Ferrara & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2000. "Public Capital and Economic Performance: Evidence from Italy," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 59(2), pages 221-244, September.
    36. Johansen, Soren, 1988. "Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 12(2-3), pages 231-254.
    37. Baltagi, Badi H & Pinnoi, Nat, 1995. "Public Capital Stock and State Productivity Growth: Further Evidence from an Error Components Model," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 351-359.
    38. Khan, Mohsin S & Kumar, Manmohan S, 1997. "Public and Private Investment and the Growth Process in Developing Countries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 59(1), pages 69-88, February.
    39. Nader Nazmi & Miguel D. Ramirez, 1997. "Public And Private Investment And Economic Growth In Mexico," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 15(1), pages 65-75, January.
    40. Christophe Kamps, 2006. "New Estimates of Government Net Capital Stocks for 22 OECD Countries, 1960-2001," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 53(1), pages 1-6.
    41. Kodrzycki Yolanda K. & Yu Pingkang, 2006. "New Approaches to Ranking Economics Journals," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-44, August.
    42. Pereira, Alfredo M & Sagales, Oriol Roca, 1999. "Public Capital Formation and Regional Development in Spain," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 281-294, October.
    43. Lucio Picci, 1999. "Productivity and Infrastructure in the Italian Regions," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 58(3-4), pages 329-353, December.
    44. Eisner, Robert, 1994. "Real government saving and the future," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 111-126, March.
    45. William Crowder & Daniel Himarios, 1997. "Balanced growth and public capital: an empirical analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(8), pages 1045-1053.
    46. Daiji Kawaguchi & Fumio Ohtake & Keiko Tamada, 2005. "The Productivity of Public Capital: Evidence from the 1994 Electoral Reform of Japan," ISER Discussion Paper 0627, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    47. 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.
    48. Jan-Egbert Sturm & Gerard H. Kuper & Jakob Haan, 1998. "Modelling Government Investment and Economic Growth on a Macro Level: A Review," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Steven Brakman & Hans Ees & Simon K. Kuipers (ed.), Market Behaviour and Macroeconomic Modelling, chapter 14, pages 359-406, Palgrave Macmillan.
    49. Berndt, Ernst R & Hansson, Bengt, 1992. " Measuring the Contribution of Public Infrastructure Capital in Sweden," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(0), pages 151-168, Supplemen.
    50. Harry H. Kelejian & Dennis P. Robinson, 1997. "Infrastructure Productivity Estimation And Its Underlying Econometric Specifications: A Sensitivity Analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 115-131, January.
    51. S. J. Erenburg, 1998. "Productivity, private and public capital, and real wage in the US," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(8), pages 491-495.
    52. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    53. Sturm, Jan-egbert & Jacobs, Jan & Groote, Peter, 1999. "Output Effects of Infrastructure Investment in the Netherlands, 1853-1913," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 355-380, April.
    54. McMillin, W Douglas & Smyth, David J, 1994. "A Multivariate Time Series Analysis of the United States Aggregate Production Function," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 659-673.
    55. Miguel D. Ramirez, 1998. "Does Public Investment Enhance Productivity Growth in Mexico? A Cointegration Analysis," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 63-82, Winter.
    56. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Schwartz, Amy Ellen, 1995. "Infrastructure in a structural model of economic growth," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 131-151, April.
    57. Ram, Rati, 1996. "Productivity of public and private investment in developing countries: A broad international perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 1373-1378, August.
    58. Glenn Otto & Graham M. Voss, 1994. "Public Capital and Private Sector Productivity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 70(209), pages 121-132, June.
    59. Mercedes Gumbau Albert & Joaquín Maudos Villarroya & Pedro Cantos, 2002. "Transport Infrastructures And Regional Growth: Evidence Of The Spanish Case," Working Papers. Serie EC 2002-27, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    60. Pedro Cantos & Mercedes Gumbau‐Albert & Joaquín Maudos, 2003. "Transport infrastructures, spillover effects and regional growth: evidence of the Spanish case," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 25-50, December.
    61. 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.
    62. Mary G. Finn, 1993. "Is all government capital productive?," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue Fall, pages 53-80.
    63. 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.
    64. Brian A. Mikelbank & Randall W. Jackson, 2000. "The Role of Space in Public Capital Research," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 23(3), pages 235-258, July.
    65. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/963 is not listed on IDEAS
    66. T. D. Stanley, 2001. "Wheat from Chaff: Meta-analysis as Quantitative Literature Review," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 131-150, Summer.
    67. Shioji, Etsuro, 2001. "Public Capital and Economic Growth: A Convergence Approach," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 205-227, September.
    68. Ram, Rati & Ramsey, David D., 1989. "Government capital and private output in the United States : Additional evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 223-226, September.
    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. Pedro R.D. Bom & Jenny E. Ligthart, 2009. "How Productive is Public Capital? A Meta-Regression Analysis," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0912, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    2. Pedro R.D. Bom & Jenny E. Ligthart, 2014. "What Have We Learned From Three Decades Of Research On The Productivity Of Public Capital?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 889-916, December.
    3. Valter Di Giacinto & Giacinto Micucci & Pasqualino Montanaro, 2012. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Infrastructures: A Literature Review and Empirical Analysis on the Case of Italy," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 1, March.
    4. Alfredo M. Pereira & Jorge M. Andraz, 2013. "On The Economic Effects Of Public Infrastructure Investment: A Survey Of The International Evidence," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 1-37, December.
    5. Ward Romp & Jakob De Haan, 2007. "Public Capital and Economic Growth: A Critical Survey," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(S1), pages 6-52, April.
    6. Holmgren, Johan & Merkel, Axel, 2017. "Much ado about nothing? – A meta-analysis of the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 13-26.
    7. Silvia Bertarelli, 2006. "Public capital and growth," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 361-398.
    8. Angel De la Fuente, 2010. "Infrastructures and productivity: an updated survey," Working Papers 1018, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    9. Federici, Andrea, 2018. "Il rapporto tra capitale pubblico e altre variabili macroeconomiche: analisi della letteratura [The relationship between public capital and other macroeconomic variable: a literature review]," MPRA Paper 88515, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Hurlin, Christophe & Minea, Alexandru, 2013. "Is public capital really productive? A methodological reappraisal," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(1), pages 122-130.
    11. Marie-Ange VEGANZONES-VAROUDAKIS, 2000. "Infrastructures, investissement et croissance : un bilan de dix années de recherches," Working Papers 200007, CERDI.
    12. Juan A. Núñez-Serrano & Francisco J. Velázquez, 2017. "Is Public Capital Productive? Evidence from a Meta-analysis," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 39(2), pages 313-345.
    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. Andreas Stephan, 2003. "Assessing the contribution of public capital to private production: Evidence from the German manufacturing sector," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 399-417.
    15. Nikos Benos & Nikolaos Mylonidis & Stefania Zotou, 2017. "Estimating production functions for the US states: the role of public and human capital," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 691-721, March.
    16. Pellervo Hamalainen, 2009. "Review of literature on the productivity of public capital," Discussion Papers 55, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1181 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Muhammad Javid, 2019. "Public and Private Infrastructure Investment and Economic Growth in Pakistan: An Aggregate and Disaggregate Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-22, June.
    19. 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.
    20. Zolfaghari, Mehdi & Kabiri, Mahbobe & Saadatmanesh, Hamideh, 2020. "Impact of socio-economic infrastructure investments on income inequality in Iran," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 1146-1168.
    21. Elburz, Zeynep & Nijkamp, Peter & Pels, Eric, 2017. "Public infrastructure and regional growth: Lessons from meta-analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-8.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures

    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:tiu:tiutis:e841076c-c1df-4617-a1bd-981066c6bc18. 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: Richard Broekman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/about/schools/economics-and-management/ .

    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.