Effects of Increasing Government Expenditure and Public Investment on Private Investment

652 Words3 Pages
Two different views exist on the effects of increased government consumption expenditure and gross investment on private investment. The traditional view argues that government expenditure and public investment crowd out private investment. Higher government expenditure and public investment need to be financed, which may imply more taxes or impose a higher demand for funds from the government in the capital markets, therefore causing interest rates to rise and making capital more expensive. This would reduce the amount of savings available for private investors and decrease the expected rate of return of private capital, leading to a crowding-out effect on private investment. The non-traditional view is that government expenditure and public investment can create additional favourable conditions for private investment, for instance, by providing or promoting relevant infrastructure such as roads, highways, sewage systems, harbours or airports. The existence of infrastructure facilities may increase the productivity of private investment, which can then take advantage of better overall infrastructures and potentially improved business conditions, which would result in having a crowding-in effect on private investment. This may arise in many developing countries where the economy’s resources are un- and under-employed. Referring to the produced charts, there is a positive correlation between the Final Government Expenditure and the Total Fixed Capital Formation expressed in real and nominal terms, as it is shown in Chart 1 and Chart 2. However, a positive correlation between these variables is not enough for making any conclusions about the nature of effect that government expenditure has on private investment or total investment in general. The Chart 3 illustrates that there is a weak positive correlation between government expenditure and total investment

More about Effects of Increasing Government Expenditure and Public Investment on Private Investment

Open Document