Does Public Capital Crowd Out Private Capital? Evidence from India

May 1996 A recent but rapidly growing empirical literature focuses on the relationship between public and private capital. But for the most part, it ignores the heterogeneity of public investment. In many countries, especially in the developing world, public investment includes not only basic infrastructure projects, but also commercial and industrial projects similar to those undertaken by the private sector. And those two types of public investment are likely to have quite different effects on the accumulation of private capital. Using data from India, the author examines this issue empirically by implementing a simple analytical model encompassing two types of public capital. The empirical results show that in the long run capital for public infrastructure projects crowds in private capital - other types of public capital have the opposite effect. But in the short run, both kinds of public investment may crowd out private investment.