On the size of the public sector

The main goal of this paper is to detect the mechanisms that should rationally stimulate the decision making-policies of the European Central Bank (ECB). This is carried out under the framework of theoretical principles of interest rate rules. Firstly, we deduce a set of logically advisable guidelines for the strategy actually developed by this central bank. Then we contrast a wide set of hypotheses with reference to those variables the ECB takes into account on deciding its monetary policy, with a flexible treatment regarding the number of months of advance or delay in the explanatory variables. The results lead us to the conclusion that the ECB, besides adopting a smooth strategy, especially bears in mind the expected core inflation rate, with a reaction coefficient adjusted to that initially proposed by Taylor. The economic growth rate, though it has a significant positive coefficient, matters relatively little and is backward looking. Finally, we evaluate up to what point the behaviour of the ECB is assimilative to an inflation targeting framework, solving this question affirmatively.     

Labour market effects of public capital stock: evidence for the Spanish private sector

This paper provides a new rationale for the positive effect of public capital stock on employment and wages. We show that higher levels of public capital reduce wages along the wage equation and enhance employment due to the resulting larger elasticity of labour demand with respect to wages. The estimation of a structural model for the Spanish private sector reveals that this wage channel is empirically relevant. We use the estimated parameters to simulate the recent incidence of the ratio of public to private capital stock on the private sector economic performance. We find (i) sizeable effects on employment, capital stock and gross domestic product, and (ii) that the wage channel is particularly important for employment.     

Assessing the contribution of public capital to private production: Evidence from the German manufacturing sector

Using time-series cross-section data from the manufacturing sector of the 11 West German 'Bundesländer' (Federal States) from 1970 to 1996, I examine the impact of public capital on private production. My econometric analysis explicitly takes into account four of the most frequent specification issues in the context of time-series crosssection data analysis: serial correlation, groupwise heteroscedasticity, cross-sectional correlation and non-stationarity of data. For all approaches and tested specifications, I find that public capital is a significant input for production in the manufacturing sector. Moreover, I find that differences in public capital endowment can explain long-term differences in productivity across the Bundesländer. One tentative conclusion that can be drawn from this finding is that differences in public capital endowment might also explain a part of the still-existing productivity gap between manufacturing in East and West Germany. However, I emphasise that the existence of positive effects of public capital on private production is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for concluding that public investments should be boosted in the future.     

On the optimal choice of capital intensity in LDCs with migration

"Sen's classic work on the choice of capital intensity of investment is generalized in the light of new theoretical developments and empirical findings concerning rural-to-urban migration in LDCs. This is done by explicitly incorporating a migration function into the basic choice model. Revised conditions for maximization of surplus are derived and compared with Sen's original condition. Some justification for the particular migration function used in the presence of risk-aversion is suggested."     

On the interaction between public and private capital in economic growth

This paper introduces two forms of interaction between private and public capital in an endogenous growth model in which productive government expenditure takes the form of a stock-variable and public capital is used in part as an input in the production of final output and in part to increase its own supply. While the first form of interaction involves the stocks of the two capital-goods and takes place within the final output sector through the specification of the aggregate production function (Cobb?CDouglas vs. CES), the second one concerns the rates of investment in the two kinds of capital. The share of productive public expenditure devoted to output production can be either exogenous or endogenous. Our results suggest that when this share is exogenous, along the balanced growth path the optimal growth rate of the economy is a positive function of the degree of complementarity between the two forms of investment. When the share of productive public expenditure devoted to output production is endogenous, the public capital share in GDP becomes, along with the model??s preference parameters, an important determinant of the economy??s long run growth. We also find that the optimal growth rate is an increasing function of the elasticity of substitution between public and private capital inputs in goods production, and is independent of the complementarity/substitutability between the two forms of investment.     

Deriving public sector preferences

Many analyses of the public sector use preferences which are defined on public sector allocations. We relate these preferences to the primitive preferences defined on the consumption space. Many properties of consumption preferences are inherited by derived public sector preferences but not all. We also question whether public sector preferences can be independent of prices with a negative conclusion. Also different definitions of derived public sector preferences are related.     

Factor-biased public capital and private capital crowding out

This paper studies the dynamic effects of public investment on private capital accumulation in a general equilibrium macroeconomic model of a small open economy with factor-biased public capital. I show that public investment induces rather complex private capital dynamics—falling in the short and in the long run, but potentially increasing along transition—if public capital augments private capital and private inputs are gross complements in production. Whether private investment is crowded in or out during transition critically depends on parameters that are empirically hard to measure, such as the labor supply elasticity and the elasticity of substitution between private inputs—a small increase in the latter from 0.5 to 0.6, for instance, turns a totally negative transitional effect into a predominantly positive one. These results help rationalize the lack of empirical consensus on the relationship between public and private investment.     

Agility evaluation in public sector

Agility metrics are difficult to define in general, mainly due to the multidimensionality and vagueness of the concept of agility itself. In this paper, a knowledge-based framework is utilized for the measurement and assessment of public sector＇s agility by A. T. Kearney model. In this research, the authors used Z2 test in SPSS software. So, the authors discovered that the General Office of Standards ＆ Industrial Research of Sistan ＆ Baluchestan Province in Iran is agile. Finally, the authors determine the weakness points of organization by Friedman test.     

公共管理的价值根源

公共管理具有多种价值根源。美国公共管理学会（APSA）认为，有五种主要的价值根源影响着公共政策的制定，它人包括：个人价值、职业价值、组织价值、合法价值和公共利益价值。处理好这些价值之间的矛盾，需要公共管理者进行认真判断和思考。     

An estimate of the capital stock for the Belgian industrial sector

The paper submitted for publication considers the conditions for and the construction of a capital stock series, consistent with all macroeconomic relations. A careful study of the literature has shown that most existing and widely used capital stock series do not meet that requirement. A generative method with a general model for the real sector is proposed. The choice of the parameters of this model was decided upon the general consistency with the main macroeconomic aggregates. The results are compared with existing series of capital stock. What was obtained was a capital stock series that gives non-diverging results for the macroeconomic series when using the capital stock in alternative specifications. The main conclusions on depreciation rate, capital stock, technological change, return on capital and share of capital are condensed in a set of tables and diagrams.     

Redistribution policy and the expansion of the public sector

During the first part of this century, life-cycle and insurance-type considerations seem to have dominated redistribution policy, in particular when we look at the consequences for the expansion of public spending. By contrast, during recent decades, ‘fragmented horizontal redistributions’ between various minority groups have probably been the most important mechanisms. The self-interest of different groups of the electorate seems to have provided the most powerful motive behind these various policies, although welfare altruism and what in this paper are called considerations of ‘consequential externalities’ have probably been important motives behind redistribution in favor of the poor.     

On the heterogeneous impact of public capital and current spending on growth across nations

This paper captures the heterogeneous impact on growth, of public capital and current spending, for 15 developing countries. Using the GMM system panel estimator, we show that countries with substantial public capital (current) spending have strong negative (positive) growth effects.     

A normative analysis of public capital

A normative analysis of short-term public capital investment is carried out using cost benefit analysis. This cost benefit approach explicitly incorporates the durability of capital into the computation and thus include an aspect of public capital omitted from previous studies which focus on productivity. Estimation methods used else where have been improved by properly handling several concerns that have been raised. In addition, this behavioural model yields many structural equations suitable for estimation which results in highly efficient parameter estimates. Although a small elasticity is found for public capital, the benefit is greater than the cost.     

Auditing and competitive bidding in the public sector

This paper investigates the impact of a ministry's budget size on the choice between auditing a (Niskanen)bureau and employing competitive bidding in the provision of a publicly funded good. The ministry's marginal expected payoff increases fastest with budget size for auctioning as opposed to auditing. However, the ministry is shown to switch from a purely public provision to a competitive provision as the budget size increases even if expected fixed costs favor the audit. The study contributes to the literature by extending the Niskanen framework and by endogenizing the institutional arrangements for the provision of public sector goods.     

On transformation of public sector research: A preliminary post-STBL assessment in Taiwan

The paper examines the impact of the Science and Technology Basic Law (STBL) enactment of 1999 on the transformation of public sector research (PSR) in Taiwan. The paper proposes a research framework to assess the changes on PSR mainly through four dimensions: (1) new infrastructure build-up, (2) industrial research links, (3) patenting and licensing, and (4) industrial education/training. Nine research hypotheses are developed. Based on the survey data of 107 PSR establishments, the paper reveals that Taiwan PSR has experienced a burgeoning infrastructure build-up and a more active partnership with industry in the post-STBL period. However, the paper argues that the scientific-economic transformation of PSR in Taiwan tends to develop better “industrial collaborative research and training capabilities” than “patenting and licensing capabilities” in the preliminary post-STBL period. The divergence on patenting, licensing and partnership capabilities still persists between experienced PSREs and non-experienced ones, suggesting a learning effect. These findings provide crucial policy implications to delineate appropriate roles of PSR in the new scientific-economic regime.     

Political preferences and public sector outsourcing

Given the intensive and ideologically charged debate over the use of private contractors for publicly funded services, it is somewhat surprising that many social scientists have preferred to explain government outsourcing by the pursuit of economic efficiency. Starting out from different theories, we investigate political explanations of government outsourcing using a Swedish data set in which outsourcing varies between municipalities and over time, as well as between services. Our identification strategy focuses on two services with similar contracting problems and local market conditions: preschools and primary schools. We study a period in which Swedish municipalities had full discretion in the provision of preschools, while their influence on the private provision of primary education was limited by a national voucher system. The comparison of preschools with primary schools in a difference-in-differences model suggests that the political color of the ruling majority influences outsourcing, which is consistent with the Citizen Candidate model of representative democracy.     

Tax structure and public sector growth

It has been hypothesized that a jurisdiction's tax structure exerts an indipendent effect upon the growth of its public sector. We test this hypothesis by examining the relationship between the growth of state general expenditure and the elasticity of tax revenues with respect to income. The work takes advantage of a very careful set of income elasticities for the personal income and sales tax systems for each state, for every year from 1978 to 1983. The main conclusion is that the data do not support the notion that the form of the tax structure exerts an independent effect on public sector growth.     

Estimating changes in real size of the public sector

A new deflator for total government expenditure can now be derived from major components of the total. Applied to government spending in the US over the past quarter-century , results show near-stability in real size of the public sector.