Public Investment and Economic Growth in The European Union Member States

Abstract

The issue of public investments becamea very challenging subject for public decisionmakerssince it incorporates the question of stateperformance, the quality of public finance and theireffects on growth. The quality of public finance is amultidimensional concept. It may be regarded asrepresenting all the arrangements and operationsregarding the financial politics that sustain themacroeconomic objectives, particularly the longtermeconomic growth. Financial policies atEuropean level highlight the fact that a concentrationof the public expenses in areas that stimulate theeconomic growth and a more efficient use of thepublic resources are key methods for sustainingthe economic growth. The empirical proofs seem tosupport the assumption according to which certaintypes of public expenses can supply incentivesand other can negatively influence the economicgrowth. The paper tries to reveal the effects ofcapital spending on economic growth (GDP percapita) for the European Union member states.The GDP per capita and the capital expenses(functional classification of public expenses -“COFOG”) have been obtained by consideringthe Eurostat statistics, the measurement unit forboth variables is Euro, while the period of analysisis of 7 years (2000-2006).