Public capital effects on Spanish regions productivity. A non-parametric approach (1965-1998)

This paper contributes to the empirical literature on public capital effects on Spanish regions productivity by applying an alternative approach to examine its influence based on a non-parametric FDH production technology with variable scaling parameters (VP-FDH) proposed in Kersten and Vanden Eeckaut (1999). This technique has significant advantages for regional comparisons of productivity and, more generally, wherever the assumption of convexity for the production set is not likely to be appropriate. My results show that public capital has a significant impact in the less developed regions. When I disaggregate public capital in the "so-called" core and non-core infrastructures I find that the first type of infrastructure have developed an important role in the majority of periods