The effects of public infrastructure on the cost structure of Spanish industries

• Autores: C. Alicia Avilés Zugasti, José Sánchez Maldonado, Rosario Gómez García
• Localización: Spanish economic review, ISSN 1435-5469, Vol. 3, Nº 2, 2001, págs. 131-150
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 3 Citas
• Resumen

  • Abstract. This paper examines the impact of public infrastructures on the performance of Spanish private business at a disaggregated industry level. We use duality theory to recover the productivity effects of public capital by calculating the cost saving effects that are associated to public services. Using a translog cost function we present panel estimates for 14 Spanish industries during the period 1980-1991. Our results strongly suggest that public capital formation can be considered to be an instrument to improve competitiveness by reducing production costs. However, the results also indicate that there is a technologically induced labor saving effect through higher public investment. Furthermore, our estimates suggest that a distinction among industries is of importance because the effects of public infrastructures vary across industries considerably.