The Productivity of Public Capital: A Meta-analysis

Simple fiscal policy rules for small open economies

“…The productivity of public capital is determined by the parameter α G . Ligthart and Suárez (2005) present a meta analysis that finds an elasticity of aggregate output with respect to public capital of 0.14, which we can replicate by setting α G = 0.1.…”

News Shocks in the Data: Olympic Games and Their Macroeconomic Effects

“…Aschauer () and Munnell (1991) estimate this elasticity to be around 0.39 when they impose constant returns to scale on all three inputs of production, and 0.20 when they assume constant returns to scale for private inputs. Ligthart and Martin Suarez (), using a completely different methodology, also report an elasticity of output with respect to public capital equal to 0.14. In exercises we have performed but do not report here for economy of space, we show that the assumption of increasing returns is not crucial for the transmission of the Olympic news shocks.…”

The Robustness of the Effects of Public Investment in Infrastructure on Private Output: Evidence for Germany

“…The results of Ligthart and Suárez (2005) indicate that studies, which employ the variable core inf rastructure or use data at the national level find larger output elasticities of public capital than studies which apply a different approach. Bom and Ligthart (2008) conclude that the heterogeneity of results in the included studies are mainly due to differences in research design, such as the econometric specification, estimation technique, type of empirical model, type of public capital, and aggregation level of public capital.…”

“…Ligthart and Suárez (2005), Bom and Ligthart (2008) and Melo et al (2013)), which analyze the determinants of differences across studies. All of the metaanalyses pay more or less attention to the following study characteristics: econometric estimation, model misspecification, data aggregation, measurement of public investment, country and time period and industrial sector.…”