IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/brikps/1600.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Public Investment in Infrastructure in Latin America: Is Debt the Culprit?

Author

Listed:
  • Lora, Eduardo

Abstract

Panel data for seven Latin American countries are used to assess the influence of public indebtedness on public investment in infrastructure in the period 1987-2001. Debt increases are associated with higher public infrastructure investment, an effect that is robust to the inclusion of many other fiscal and macroeconomic variables. This paper also finds some evidence of complementarity between public and private investment and of the negative effect of IMF adjustment loans on infrastructure expenditures. No evidence is found that debt defaults affect public investment in infrastructure

Suggested Citation

  • Lora, Eduardo, 2007. "Public Investment in Infrastructure in Latin America: Is Debt the Culprit?," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1600, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:1600
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Public-Investment-in-Infrastructure-in-Latin-America-Is-Debt-the-Culprit.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geske Dijkstra & Niels Hermes, 2001. "The Uncertainty of Debt Service Payments and Economic Growth of HIPCs: Is there a Case for Debt Relief?," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2001-122, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Eduardo Lora, 2009. "La Vulnerabilidad Fiscal del Gasto Social: ¿Es diferente América Latina?," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 24(1), pages 3-20, Junio.
    3. Dany Jaimovich & Ugo Panizza, 2010. "Public debt around the world: a new data set of central government debt," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 19-24, January.
    4. Mahdavi, Saeid, 2004. "Shifts in the Composition of Government Spending in Response to External Debt Burden," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1139-1157, July.
    5. Eduardo Lora, 2009. "La Vulnerabilidad Fiscal del Gasto Social: ¿Es diferente América Latina?," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Ilades-Georgetown University, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Bussines, vol. 24(1), pages 3-20, Junio.
    6. César Calderón & Luis Servén, 2004. "Trends in Infrastructure in Latin America, 1980-2001," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 269, Central Bank of Chile.
    7. Agenor, Pierre-Richard & Moreno-Dodson, Blanca, 2006. "Public infrastructure and growth : new channels and policy implications," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4064, The World Bank.
    8. Lora, Eduardo & Olivera, Mauricio, 2007. "Public debt and social expenditure: Friends or foes?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 299-310, December.
    9. Dany Jaimovich & Ugo Panizza, 2010. "Public debt around the world: a new data set of central government debt," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 19-24, January.
    10. Toan Quoc Nguyen & Mr. Benedict J. Clements & Ms. Rina Bhattacharya, 2003. "External Debt, Public Investment, and Growth in Low-Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 2003/249, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Ms. Hélène Poirson & Mr. Luca A Ricci & Ms. Catherine A Pattillo, 2004. "What Are the Channels Through Which External Debt Affects Growth?," IMF Working Papers 2004/015, International Monetary Fund.
    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. Cavallo, Eduardo & Daude, Christian, 2011. "Public investment in developing countries: A blessing or a curse?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 65-81, March.
    2. Yang, Bofei & Zhu, Shengjun, 2022. "Public funds in high-tech industries: A blessing or a curse," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Ibrahim Mohammed Adamu, 2016. "Public Investment in Nigeria. Does External Debt Matter?," Academic Journal of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 2(4), pages 120-138, December.
    4. repec:agr:journl:v:4(605):y:2015:i:4(605):p:189-198 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Rozas, Patricio, 2010. "Latin America: problems and challenges of infrastructure financing," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    6. Eduardo Lora, 2009. "La Vulnerabilidad Fiscal del Gasto Social: ¿Es diferente América Latina?," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 24(1), pages 3-20, Junio.
    7. Walid BENAYED & Foued Badr GABSI & Samia OMRANE BELGUITH, 2015. "Threshold Effect of Public Debt on Domestic Investment: Evidence from Selected African Countries," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(4(605), W), pages 189-198, Winter.
    8. Pradyumna Dash, 2016. "The Impact of Public Investment on Private Investment: Evidence from India," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 41(4), pages 288-307, December.
    9. Dongmin Yao & Yijing Chen & Yixuan Xu, 2021. "How Public Expenditure and Bank Credit Affect Growth: Provincial and Enterprise Level Causal Evidence from China's 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 22(1), pages 195-231, May.
    10. Eduardo A. Cavallo & Tomás Serebrisky & Verónica Frisancho & Jonathan Karver & Andrew Powell & Diego Margot & Ancor Suárez-Alemán & Eduardo Fernández-Arias & Matías Marzani & Solange Berstein & Marian, 2016. "Saving for Development: How Latin America and the Caribbean Can Save More and Better," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 94597 edited by Eduardo A. Cavallo & Tomás Serebrisky, February.
    11. Ramón Espinasa, 2008. "Prospects for the Oil-importing Countries of the Caribbean," Research Department Publications 2007, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    12. Anis Chowdhury, 2012. "Structural Adjustment and Crises –Which Way Now?," Institutions and Economies (formerly known as International Journal of Institutions and Economies), Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, vol. 4(1), pages 85-118, April.
    13. Timilsina,Govinda R. & Sahoo,Pravakar & Dash,Ranjan Kumar, 2022. "Why Do Indian States Differ in Their Infrastructure Development ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10086, The World Bank.
    14. Cavallo, Eduardo A. & Serebrisky, Tomás & Frisancho, Verónica & Karver, Jonathan & Powell, Andrew & Margot, Diego & Suárez-Alemán, Ancor & Fernández-Arias, Eduardo & Marzani, Matías & Berstein, Solang, 2016. "Saving for Development: How Latin America and the Caribbean Can Save More and Better," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 7677, November.
    15. Eduardo Lora, 2007. "The Fiscal Vulnerability of Social Public Expenditure: Is Latin America Different?," Research Department Publications 4505, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.

    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. Marcela Meléndez Arjona & Arturo Harker Roa, 2008. "Revisiting economic growth in Colombia. A microeconomic perspective," Working Papers Series. Documentos de Trabajo 9137, Fedesarrollo.
    2. Eduardo Lora, 2007. "Inversión pública en infraestructura en América Latina: ¿Es la deuda la culpable?," Research Department Publications 4503, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    3. Eduardo Lora, 2009. "La Vulnerabilidad Fiscal del Gasto Social: ¿Es diferente América Latina?," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 24(1), pages 3-20, Junio.
    4. Ramón Espinasa, 2008. "Prospects for the Oil-importing Countries of the Caribbean," Research Department Publications 2007, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    5. Eduardo Lora, 2007. "The Fiscal Vulnerability of Social Public Expenditure: Is Latin America Different?," Research Department Publications 4505, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    6. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Bayraktar, Nihal & El Aynaoui, Karim, 2008. "Roads out of poverty? Assessing the links between aid, public investment, growth, and poverty reduction," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 277-295, June.
    7. Naeem AKRAM*, 2017. "Role of Public Debt in Economic Growth of Sri Lanka: An ARDL Approach," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 27(2), pages 189-212.
    8. Presbitero, Andrea F., 2008. "The Debt-Growth Nexus in Poor Countries: A Reassessment," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 2, pages 1-28.
    9. Presbitero, Andrea F., 2008. "Debt Relief Effectiveness and Institution Building," MPRA Paper 12597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4089 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Lora, Eduardo & Olivera, Mauricio, 2007. "Public debt and social expenditure: Friends or foes?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 299-310, December.
    12. Taner Turan & Halit Yanıkkaya, 2021. "External debt, growth and investment for developing countries: some evidence for the debt overhang hypothesis," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 20(3), pages 319-341, September.
    13. Sadia Shabbir & Hafiz M. Yasin, 2015. "Implications of Public External Debt for Social Spending: A Case Study of Selected Asian Developing Countries," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 71-103, Jan-June.
    14. repec:lje:journl:v:20:y:2015:i:1:p:71-103 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Haytham Y.M. Ewaida, 2017. "The Impact of Sovereign Debt on Growth: An Empirical Study on GIIPS versus JUUSD Countries," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2A), pages 607-633.
    16. António Afonso & Pedro Gomes & Philipp Rother, 2006. "What “Hides” Behind Sovereign Debt Ratings?," Working Papers Department of Economics 2006/35, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    17. Serhan ÇIFTÇIOĞLU & Amin SOKHANVAR, 2018. "External Debt- Economic Growth Nexus in Selected CEE Countries," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 85-100, December.
    18. Athanasios Vamvakidis, 2008. "External debt and economic reform: does a pain reliever delay the necessary treatment?," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 187-199.
    19. Imbs, Jean & Ranciere, Romain, 2005. "The overhang hangover," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3673, The World Bank.
    20. Drine, Imed & Nabi, M. Sami, 2010. "Public external debt, informality and production efficiency in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 487-495, March.
    21. Qureshi, Irfan & Liaqat, Zara, 2020. "The long-term consequences of external debt: Revisiting the evidence and inspecting the mechanism using panel VARs," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    22. Saungweme Talknice & Odhiambo Nicholas M., 2018. "An Analysis of Public Debt Servicing in Zambia: Trends, Reforms and Challenges," Croatian International Relations Review, Sciendo, vol. 24(81), pages 113-136, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    WP-595;

    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:idb:brikps:1600. 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: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.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.