How growth-friendly are productive public expenditures? An empirical analysis for Eastern Europe

Abstract

This paper investigated the effects of productive public expenditures over economic growth, using a panel-model approach, in 6 East-European countries during 1990-2013. The paper contributes to the specific literature, showing how different types of productive public expenditures influence economic growth, under an extended set of economic and socio-political control variables. The findings revealed that education, R&D and infrastructure expenditure are positively correlated with economic growth, while health expenditure seems to have a negative impact.

Keywords

• productive public expenditure
• economic growth
• correlation
• fixed-effects
• panel-model