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Infrastructure Compression and Public Sector Solvency in Latin America

Author

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  • César Calderón
  • William Easterly
  • Luis Servén
Abstract
Public investment and infrastructure spending are often singled out for drastic cuts at times of fiscal retrenchment. Fiscal austerity in Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s was characterized by a sharp contraction in infrastructure spending. In 5 of the 9 major Latin American countries, infrastructure investment cuts contributed half or more of the total fiscal adjustment. However, the compression of infrastructure spending does not guarantee the sustainability of the public sector. Infrastructure spending cuts not only reduce the public deficit (thereby raising the public sector’s net worth) but also leads to a decline in infrastructure stock accumulation and in output growth as well. This in turn implies a reduction in the economy’s debt-servicing capacity, thus weakening the public sector net worth (Easterly, 2001). In the present paper we quantitatively assess the growth cost of public infrastructure compression for major Latin American economies during the fiscal austerity period of the 1980s and 1990s, and examine the effectiveness of infrastructure spending cuts as a device to enhance public sector solvency.

Suggested Citation

  • César Calderón & William Easterly & Luis Servén, 2002. "Infrastructure Compression and Public Sector Solvency in Latin America," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 187, Central Bank of Chile.
    • Handle: RePEc:chb:bcchwp:187
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    File URL: https://www.bcentral.cl/documents/33528/133326/DTBC_187.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Norman Loayza & Raimundo Soto, 2003. "Market-Oriented Reforms: Definitions and Measurement," Documentos de Trabajo 237, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    2. Alexandru Pavel & Octavian Moldovan, 2019. "Determining Local Economic Development in the Rural Areas of Romania. Exploring the Role of Exogenous Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, January.
    3. Kellermann, Kersten, 2007. "Debt financing of public investment: On a popular misinterpretation of "the golden rule of public sector borrowing"," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 1088-1104, December.
    4. Chiara Del Bo & Massimo Florio & Silvia Vignetti & Emanuela Sirtori, 2011. "Additionality and regional development: are EU Structural Funds complements or substitutes of national Public Finance?," Working Papers 201101, CSIL Centre for Industrial Studies.
    5. Morais, Artur Carlos & Aragão, Joaquim Jose Guilherme & Yamashita, Yaeko & Orrico, Rômulo Dante & de Freitas Dourado, Anisio Brasileiro, 2014. "Analysing the fiscal sustainability of transit investment projects: The case of the metropolitan railway of Brasília," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 422-428.

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