A presentation of a quantitative-theoretical model that can account for much of the behavior of the stock of public capital in the U.S. economy over the last 70 years, with an application to examining some possible causes of the slowdown in the growth of U.S. labor productivity.

We use a simple endogenous growth model with productive public capital to investigate the degree to which observed fiscal policies in eight OECD countries can account for slowdowns in the growth rates of aggregate labor productivity since 1970. In model simulations, we find that none of the...

This paper examines the economic effects of tax reform in an endogenous growth model that allows for two types of useful public expenditures; one type contributes to human capital information while the other provides direct utility to households. We show that the optimal fiscal policy calls for...

This paper: (1) shows that optimal transition dynamics in a simple endogenous growth model can account for much of the behavior of the stock of public capital in the U.S. economy over the last 70 or so years; (2) shows that the observed decline in the U.S. ratio of public to private capital...

This paper investigates a variety of objectives that are commonly used to motivate government fiscal action. These include welfare maximization, stabilization and growth maximization. The policies are compared on the basis of their implications for welfare, volatility and growth. We show that...