Do High and Volatile Levels of Public Investment Suggest Misconduct?The Role of Institutional Quality

Grigoli, Francesco ; Mills, Zachary

关键词: ACCOUNTING;    ADVANCED ECONOMIES;    AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS;    AUCTIONS;    AUTARCHY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5735
RP-ID  :  WPS5735

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 impact ofinstitutional quality on public investment levels over theperiod 1984-2008. Moreover, it studies how the volatility ofpublic investment and the quality of infrastructure areaffected by institutional quality, and explores thecontribution of other critical factors. The findings suggestan inverse relationship between public investment levels andinstitutional quality, supporting the idea that governmentsuse public investment as a vehicle for rent-seeking or tocompensate for the fall in private investment due to thepoor business environment. In addition, aid flows, revenuesand abundance of natural resources contribute positively tothe level of capital spending. The author also finds thathigh volatility of public investment is associated with alower quality of governance. An increase in revenues isassociated with a reduction in the volatility of capitalspending, suggesting that proper macroeconomic managementsmoothes the investment cycle. Finally, the paper providessome tentative evidence of a positive relationship betweeninstitutional quality and the quality of infrastructure.