This paper examines whether decentralization increases the responsiveness of public investment to local needs using a unique database from Bolivia. Empirical tests show that investment patterns in human capital and social services changed significantly after decentralization. These changes are...

We examine the optimal financing of infrastructure when governments have limited financial commitment and can expropriate rents from private sector firms that manage infrastructure. While private firms need incentives to implement projects well, governments need incentives to limit...

We define a differential game of public investment with a discontinuous Markovian strategy space. The best response correspondence for the game is well-behaved: a best response exists and uniquely maps almost all profiles of opponents' strategies back to the strategy space. Our chosen strategy...

We define a differential game of public investment with a discontinuous Markovian strategy space. The best response correspondence for the game is well-behaved: a best response exists and uniquely maps almost all profiles of opponents’ strategies back to the strategy space. Our chosen strategy...

We model investors that take into account the amount of public good that firms produce (e.g., by reducing carbon emissions) when making their portfolio allocation. In an equilibrium asset pricing model with production and public goods provision, we find that environmentally conscious investors...

Develops a new methodology for estimating the value of federal, state and local tax exemptions received by private, nonprofit higher-educational institutions, using Northeastern University as a demonstration case study

Should public assets such as infrastructure, education, and the environment earn the same return as private investments? We consider if time-inconsistent decision-makers can gain from institutions that enforce cost-benefit rules on large projects that influence the economy as a whole. Long-term...

This paper investigates how the services of public capital affect the different sectors of private economy in Italy. For this purpose, we use a trans-logarithmic cost function which includes infrastructure’s services as a quasi-fixed free input. This approach allows to measure the effects of...

This article investigates the role played by public capital in increasing the productivity levels in Italy. For construction of the regional series for the public capital stock over the period 1996 to 2003, the study benefits from the use of the rich dataset on public expenditure, recently...

This paper studies the long-run effects of government-led construction of manufacturing plants on the regions where they were built and on individuals from those regions. Specifically, we examine publicly financed plants built in dispersed locations outside of major urban centers for security...