Does Public Investment Enhance Productivity Growth in Mexico? A Cointegration Analysis

The paper begins with an overview of the role of the Mexican state in the investment process during the period 1950-93. A set of testable hypotheses is then generated from a model that incorporates, inter alia, the public capital stock as an argument in a modified neoclassical production function, and an empirical counterpart of the conceptual model is tested relating the relevant variables to the rate of GDP growth (including labor productivity growth). The results suggest that the growth in public and private investment spending has had a positive effect on the rate of productivity growth in Mexico.