IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lev/wrkpap/wp_85.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Relationship Between Public and Private Investment

Author

Listed:
  • Sharon J. Erenburg

Abstract

The relationship between government spending and aggregates such as output, employment, and prices has been the subject of many theoretical and empirical studies. Recently, however, interest has shifted to government spending on the provision of public capital (measured as fixed, nonresidential government capital) and various indicators of economic performance. Hence, government spending is now recognized to extend beyond the traditional view of strictly purchasing goods and services: The provision of public infrastructure has become an integral component. Erenburg finds that empirical estimates from the short-run, first-difference model indicate that each additional one percentage point increase in public infrastructure and government investment spending is associated with an approximate three-fifths of a percentage point increase in private of a percentage point increase in private sector equipment were obtained by using the Stock-Watson method for testing for long-run relationships when variables are integrated of higher order, including different orders. These estimates indicate an increase of approximately two-fifths of a percentage point in private equipment investment per year. Projections reveal that if the rate of growth of public capital stock had continued from 1966 through 1987 at the 1947-1965 average annual growth rate (instead of decreasing), the growth rate of private sector equipment investment would have been between 4 to 6 percentage points above the actual rate of growth. In addition to the impact on economic growth, Aschauer (1989) and Erenburg (1993) find a positive correlation between the public provision of infrastructure and private investment. As private investment activity enhances future growth of real income, these statistical results confirm that public policy has permanent effects on real output. The empirical results confirm that public policy has permanent effects on real output. The empirical results indicate that private sector equipment investment is inversely related to government investment spending and directly related to the existing public capital stock. Also, private equipment investment is much more sensitive to public provision of capital than either structures investment. These findings suggest that public infrastructure has an overall stimulative effect on private investment activity in the United States: In essence, these results verify Aschauer's, while addressing concerns of spurious correlation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharon J. Erenburg, 1993. "The Relationship Between Public and Private Investment," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_85, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_85
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp85.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, 1992. "Public-Sector Capital and the Productivity Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 4122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Koray, Faik, 1987. "Government Debt, Economic Activity, and Transmission of Economic Disturbances," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 19(3), pages 361-375, August.
    3. John A. Tatom, 1991. "Public capital and private sector performance," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 3-15.
    4. Modigliani, Franco & Sterling, Arlie, 1986. "Government Debt, Government Spending and Private Sector Behavior: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1168-1179, December.
    5. Barro, Robert J, 1981. "Output Effects of Government Purchases," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(6), pages 1086-1121, December.
    6. Charles W. Bischoff, 1971. "Business Investment in the 1970s: A Comparison of Models," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, pages 13-64.
    7. Aschauer, David Alan, 1985. "Fiscal Policy and Aggregate Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 117-127, March.
    8. Feldstein, Martin, 1982. "Government deficits and aggregate demand," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20.
    9. Ciccolo, John & Fromm, Gary, 1980. "'q,' Corporate Investment, and Balance Sheet Behavior," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 12(2), pages 294-307, Special I.
    10. 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.
    11. Abel, Andrew B & Blanchard, Olivier J, 1986. "The Present Value of Profits and Cyclical Movements in Investment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(2), pages 249-273, March.
    12. Michael J. Boskin, 1987. "Concepts and Measures of Federal Deficits and Debt and Their Impact on Economic Activity," NBER Working Papers 2332, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Frederic S. Mishkin, 1983. "Does Anticipated Aggregate Demand Policy Matter?," NBER Chapters, in: A Rational Expectations Approach to Macroeconometrics: Testing Policy Ineffectiveness and Efficient-Markets Models, pages 110-155, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Silber, William L, 1970. "Fiscal Policy in IS-LM Analysis: A Correction," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 2(4), pages 461-472, November.
    15. Kormendi, Roger C, 1983. "Government Debt, Government Spending, and Private Sector Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 994-1010, December.
    16. Randall W. Eberts & Michael S. Fogerty, 1987. "Estimating the relationship between local, public and private investment," Working Papers (Old Series) 8703, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    17. Randall W. Eberts, 1986. "Estimating the contribution of urban public infrastructure to regional growth," Working Papers (Old Series) 8610, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    18. 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.
    19. Seater, John J, 1982. "Are Future Taxes Discounted?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(3), pages 376-389, August.
    20. Morrison, Catherine J & Schwartz, Amy Ellen, 1996. "State Infrastructure and Productive Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1095-1111, December.
    21. Aschauer, David Alan & Greenwood, Jeremy, 1985. "Macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 91-138, January.
    22. Buiter, Willem H., 1977. "`Crowding out' and the effectiveness of fiscal policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 309-328, June.
    23. Jorgenson, Dale W, 1971. "Econometric Studies of Investment Behavior: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 1111-1147, December.
    24. Boskin, Michael J., 1987. "Concepts and Measures of Federal Deficits and Debt and their Impact on Economic Activity," CEPR Publications 244437, Stanford University, Center for Economic Policy Research.
    25. James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 1989. "A Simple MLE of Cointegrating Vectors in Higher Order Integrated Systems," NBER Technical Working Papers 0083, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. George Irvin & Alejandro Izurieta, 2000. "Will the growing trade gap sink Viet Nam?-Some exploratory econometrics," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 169-186.
    2. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2020. "Economic Growth, Public and Private Investment: A Comparative Study of China and the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Adegboye, Abiodun Adewale & Alimi, R. Santos, 2017. "Public – Private Investment Nexus in Developing Economies: Does Financial Sector Development Matter for Nigeria?," MPRA Paper 80908, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Marie-Ange VEGANZONES-VAROUDAKIS, 2000. "Infrastructures, investissement et croissance : un bilan de dix années de recherches," Working Papers 200007, CERDI.
    5. Jamee K. Moudud, 1998. "Government Spending and Growth Cycles: Fiscal Policy in a Dynamic Context," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_260, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. Erenburg, S. J. & Wohar, Mark E., 1995. "Public and private investment: Are there causal linkages?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 1-30.
    7. George Argyrous, 1998. "Can Expenditure Cuts Eliminate a Budget Deficit? The Australian Experience," Macroeconomics 9809003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Feb 1999.
    8. Jamee K. Moudud & Ajit Zacharias, 2000. "Finance in a Classical and Harrodian Cyclical Growth Model," Macroeconomics 0004037, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Jamee K. Moudud, "undated". "Government Spending in a Growing Economy, Fiscal Policy and Growth Cycles," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_52, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. Jamee K. Moudud & Ajit Zacharias, "undated". "Whither the Welfare State? The Macroeconomics of Social Policy," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_61, Levy Economics Institute.
    11. Jamee K. Moudud & Ajit Zacharias, 1999. "The Social Wage, Welfare Policy, and the Phases of Capital Accumulation," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_291, Levy Economics Institute.
    12. 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.
    13. John A. Tatom, 1993. "Is an infrastructure crisis lowering the nation's productivity?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Nov, pages 3-21.

    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. Sharon J. Erenburg, "undated". "Linking Public Capital to Economic Performance, Public Capital: The Missing Link Between Investment and Economic Growth ," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive 14, Levy Economics Institute.
    2. Erenburg, S. J. & Wohar, Mark E., 1995. "Public and private investment: Are there causal linkages?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 1-30.
    3. David Alan Aschauer, 1990. "Is Government Spending Stimulative?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(4), pages 30-46, October.
    4. Sharon J. Erenburg, 1993. "Productivity, Private and Public Capital, and Real Wage in the United States, 1948-1990," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_94, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Brunila, Anne, 1997. "Current income and private consumption : Saving decisions : Testing the finite horizon model," Research Discussion Papers 6/1997, Bank of Finland.
    6. repec:zbw:bofrdp:1997_006 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. 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.
    8. Marie-Ange VEGANZONES-VAROUDAKIS, 2000. "Infrastructures, investissement et croissance : un bilan de dix années de recherches," Working Papers 200007, CERDI.
    9. Brunila, Anne, 1997. "Current income and private consumption: Saving decisions: Testing the finite horizon model," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 6/1997, Bank of Finland.
    10. 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.
    11. Pierre Duguay & Yves Rabeau, 1989. "Les effets macro-économiques de la politique budgétaire : de Keynes à la synthèse néo-classique," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 40(4), pages 597-620.
    12. Boarnet, Marlon G., 1996. "The Direct and Indirect Economic Effects of Transportation Infrastructure," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt1506r290, University of California Transportation Center.
    13. David H. Good & M. Ishaq Nadiri & Robin C. Sickles, 1996. "Index Number and Factor Demand Approaches to the Estimation of Productivity," NBER Working Papers 5790, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. B. Douglas Bernheim, 1987. "Ricardian Equivalence: An Evaluation of Theory and Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1987, Volume 2, pages 263-316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. D. Giannaros & B. Kolluri & M. Panik, 1999. "An Empirical Analysis of The Effects of Government Spending on Capital Investment: Evidence from O.E.C.D. Countries," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 45-55.
    16. Elmendorf, Douglas W. & Gregory Mankiw, N., 1999. "Government debt," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 25, pages 1615-1669, Elsevier.
    17. Hafedh Bouakez & Nooman Rebei, 2007. "Why does private consumption rise after a government spending shock?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 954-979, August.
    18. Bilgili, Faik, 1999. "Yeni Klasik kurama göre bütçe politikalarının değerlendirilmesi [An evaluation of New Classical arguments on budget policies]," MPRA Paper 80771, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Malley Jim & Molana Hassan, 2002. "Fiscal Policy And The Composition Of Private Consumption: Some Evidence From The U.A. And Canada," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 139-158.
    20. Nigel Spence & Antonis Rovolis, 2002. "Duality theory and cost function analysis in a regional context: the impact of public infrastructure capital in the Greek regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 36(1), pages 55-78.
    21. Aqdas Ali Kazmi, 1994. "Private Consumption, Government Spending, Debt Neutrality: Resolving Kormendi- Feldstein-Modigliani Controversy," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1055-1071.

    More about this item

    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:lev:wrkpap:wp_85. 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: Elizabeth Dunn (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.levyinstitute.org .

    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.