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What do governments buy? The composition of public spending and economic performance

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  • Devarajan, Shantayanan
  • Swaroop, Vinaya
  • Heng-fu Zou

Abstract

The authors develop a simple analytical framework that shows how the composition of public spending affects economic growth. Distinguishing between productive and unproductive government spending (that which complements private sector productivity and that which does not), they show that increasing the share of productive spending leads to a higher steady-state economic growth rate. They use data from 69 developing countries over 20 years to determine which components of public spending are productive. They find that an increase in the share of current spending has positive and statistically significant effects on growth. Otherwise, the news is mainly negative. The relationship between the capital component of public spending and per capita growth is negative. The same is true of the share of spending on transport and communications. The shares spent on health and education have no significant impact, although parts of those shares - the parts spent on preventative care and"other education"- do. The results raise the question whether public spending actually leads to a flow of public goods and services.

Suggested Citation

  • Devarajan, Shantayanan & Swaroop, Vinaya & Heng-fu Zou, 1993. "What do governments buy? The composition of public spending and economic performance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1082, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1082
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Shanaka Herath, 2009. "The Size of the Government and Economic Growth: An Empirical Study of Sri Lanka," SRE-Disc sre-disc-2009_08, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Angel De la Fuente, 2010. "Infrastructures and productivity: an updated survey," Working Papers 1018, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    4. Torres Preciado, Víctor Hugo & Polanco Gaytán, Mayrén & Manzanares Rivera, José Luis, 2010. "Diferencias en el ingreso per cápita regional e infraestructura de transporte en México [Differences in per capita regional income and transport infrastructure in Mexico]," MPRA Paper 28081, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Danyang, Xie & Zou, Heng-fu, 1998. "Should public capital be subsidized or provided?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 319-331, April.
    6. Manuel Alejandro Cardenete & Ferran Sancho, 2012. "The Role Of Supply Constraints In Multiplier Analysis," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 21-34, June.
    7. Sayantan Ghosh Dastidar & Sushil Mohan & Monojit Chatterji, 2012. "The relationship between public education expenditure and economic growth: The case of India," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 273, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    8. Hany Abdel-Latif & Tapas Mishra, 2016. "Asymmetric Growth Impact of Social Policy: A Post-Shock Policy Scenario for Egypt," Working Papers 1035, Economic Research Forum, revised Aug 2016.
    9. Shanaka Herath, 2012. "Size Of Government And Economic Growth: A Nonlinear Analysis," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 57(194), pages 7-30, July - Se.
    10. Pillai N., Vijayamohanan, 2008. "Infrastructure, Growth And Human Development In Kerala," MPRA Paper 7017, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Jorge Martínez-Vázquez & Violeta Vulovic & Blanca Moreno Dodson, 2012. "The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Policies on Income Distribution: Evidence from a Large Panel of Countries," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 200(1), pages 95-130, March.
    12. Pushpa Trivedi & Rajmal, 2011. "Growth Effects of Fiscal Policy of India States," Millennial Asia, , vol. 2(2), pages 141-162, July.
    13. Moreno-Dodson, Blanca, 2008. "Assessing the impact of public spending on growth - an empirical analysis for seven fast growing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4663, The World Bank.
    14. Armas, Enrique Blanco & Osorio, Camilo Gomez & Moreno-Dodson, Blanca & Abriningrum, Dwi Endah, 2012. "Agriculture public spending and growth in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5977, The World Bank.
    15. Michel Strawczynski & Momi Dahan, 1996. "Government finance and endogenous growth," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(12), pages 789-791.

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