Econometric testing of spatial productivity spillovers from public capital

Abstract

In this paper we review two different approaches followed in the empirical literature to test for the existence of public capital spillovers. Additionally, we explore the role played by an additive aggregator of public capital in neighboring regions versus the multiplicative aggregator used previously in the literature. In the empirical application we compare the different methodologies using a panel data set of the 47 mainland Spanish provinces. We do not find evidence of the existence of spillover effects of public infrastructure.Public capital, public infrastructure, spatial spillovers.