Keyword search

All (3) ((3 results))

• 1. An Examination of Public Capital's Role in Production Archived

  Articles and reports: 11F0027M2008050

  Geography: Canada

  Description:

  This paper examines whether or not the long-term government bond rate could reasonably be employed as the rate of return on public capital when calculating public sector gross domestic product. It finds that the rate of return on public capital is lower than often reported and is roughly consistent with the rate of return on private capital. Given that there is a range of estimates that are plausible, the paper concludes that the long-run government bond rate could be used as a conservative estimate for the rate of return for public infrastructure.

  Previous studies have shown that production function estimates tend to find rates of return that are implausibly large, while cost function estimates appear more reasonable. This paper shows that public capital and total factor productivity (TFP) growth behave similarly, and argues that production function estimates for the impact of public capital overstate its impact as a result, catching part of what belongs in estimates of TFP. It also shows that the similarity between the growth in public capital and TFP leads to a large confidence interval around public capital elasticity estimates derived from the production function framework. The paper then proceeds by generating a confidence interval from the production function estimated first with and then without TFP growth. It then uses a cost function to pinpoint more precisely estimates for the marginal cost savings from public capital. Importantly, the estimate derived from the cost function is found in the lower part of the confidence interval derived from the production function. The rate of return associated with the overlapping estimates is then shown to cover a range that extends from the average long-run government bond rate to the rate of return on private capital.

  Release date: 2008-04-15

  ---

• 2. Infrastructure Capital: What Is It? Where Is It? How Much of It Is There? Archived

  Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2008016

  Description:

  This paper focuses on the role of investments in infrastructure in Canada. The size of infrastructure investments relative to other capital stock sets this country apart from most other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The paper reviews the approaches taken by other researchers to define infrastructure. It then outlines a taxonomy to define those assets that should be considered as infrastructure and that can be used to assess the importance of different types of capital investments. It briefly considers how to define the portion of infrastructure that should be considered 'public'. The final two parts of the paper apply the proposed classification system to data on Canada's capital stock, and ask the following questions: how much infrastructure does Canada have and in which sectors of the economy is this infrastructure located? Finally, the paper investigates how Canada's infrastructure has evolved over the last four decades, both in the commercial and non-commercial sectors, and compares these trends with the pattern that can be found in the United States.

  Release date: 2008-03-12

  ---

• 3. Age of Public Infrastructure: A Provincial Perspective Archived

  Articles and reports: 11-621-M2008067

  Geography: Province or territory

  Description:

  Trends in average age of public infrastructure in Canada and the provinces are examined for five key assets from 1961 to 2007. Average ages of assets are compared with their estimated useful service life and are presented along with their corresponding gross capital stock.

  Release date: 2008-02-13

Data (0) (0 results)

No content available at this time.

Analysis (2) ((2 results))

• 1. An Examination of Public Capital's Role in Production Archived

  Articles and reports: 11F0027M2008050

  Geography: Canada

  Description:

  This paper examines whether or not the long-term government bond rate could reasonably be employed as the rate of return on public capital when calculating public sector gross domestic product. It finds that the rate of return on public capital is lower than often reported and is roughly consistent with the rate of return on private capital. Given that there is a range of estimates that are plausible, the paper concludes that the long-run government bond rate could be used as a conservative estimate for the rate of return for public infrastructure.

  Previous studies have shown that production function estimates tend to find rates of return that are implausibly large, while cost function estimates appear more reasonable. This paper shows that public capital and total factor productivity (TFP) growth behave similarly, and argues that production function estimates for the impact of public capital overstate its impact as a result, catching part of what belongs in estimates of TFP. It also shows that the similarity between the growth in public capital and TFP leads to a large confidence interval around public capital elasticity estimates derived from the production function framework. The paper then proceeds by generating a confidence interval from the production function estimated first with and then without TFP growth. It then uses a cost function to pinpoint more precisely estimates for the marginal cost savings from public capital. Importantly, the estimate derived from the cost function is found in the lower part of the confidence interval derived from the production function. The rate of return associated with the overlapping estimates is then shown to cover a range that extends from the average long-run government bond rate to the rate of return on private capital.

  Release date: 2008-04-15

  ---

• 2. Age of Public Infrastructure: A Provincial Perspective Archived

  Articles and reports: 11-621-M2008067

  Geography: Province or territory

  Description:

  Trends in average age of public infrastructure in Canada and the provinces are examined for five key assets from 1961 to 2007. Average ages of assets are compared with their estimated useful service life and are presented along with their corresponding gross capital stock.

  Release date: 2008-02-13

Reference (1) ((1 result))

• 1. Infrastructure Capital: What Is It? Where Is It? How Much of It Is There? Archived

  Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2008016

  Description:

  This paper focuses on the role of investments in infrastructure in Canada. The size of infrastructure investments relative to other capital stock sets this country apart from most other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The paper reviews the approaches taken by other researchers to define infrastructure. It then outlines a taxonomy to define those assets that should be considered as infrastructure and that can be used to assess the importance of different types of capital investments. It briefly considers how to define the portion of infrastructure that should be considered 'public'. The final two parts of the paper apply the proposed classification system to data on Canada's capital stock, and ask the following questions: how much infrastructure does Canada have and in which sectors of the economy is this infrastructure located? Finally, the paper investigates how Canada's infrastructure has evolved over the last four decades, both in the commercial and non-commercial sectors, and compares these trends with the pattern that can be found in the United States.

  Release date: 2008-03-12