Fiscal Policy as an Instrument of Investment and Growth

Basu, Kaushik

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ADVERSE SELECTION;    BANK POLICY;    BANKRUPT;    BANKRUPTCY;    BINDING CONSTRAINT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6850
RP-ID  :  WPS6850

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper investigates the role offiscal guarantees in promoting infrastructure investment.Infrastructure is a critical driver of economic growth, butinfrastructure entails significant up-front costs that yieldbenefits after a time lag. Investors hesitate to put theirmoney down on private infrastructure ventures because of thelong lag and governments do not give guarantees for reasonsof fiscal prudence. The paper argues that governments andlarge investment guarantee agencies can in many situationsgive suitably-calibrated guarantees to private projects byexploiting the fact that a guarantee on one project canreduce the risk of another one failing. The paper works outthe architecture of such guarantees, which can be fiscallyprudent and yet boost investment, especially ininfrastructure, and thereby promote growth.