Public Works in Prosperity and Depression.

Public Education, Technological Change and Economic Prosperity

We introduce publicly funded education in R&D-based economic growth theory. The framework allows us to i) incorporate a realistic process of human capital accumulation for industrialized countries, ii) reconcile R&D-based growth theory with the empirical evidence on the relationship between economic prosperity and population growth, iii) revise the policy invariance result of semi-endogenous gr...

Public works and social protection in sub-Saharan Africa Do public works work for the poor?

Public education and economic prosperity: semi-endogenous growth revisited

We introduce publicly funded education into R&D-based economic growth theory. Our framework allows us to i) explicitly describe a realistic process of human capital accumulation within these types of growth models, ii) reconcile semi-endogenous growth theory with the empirical evidence on the relationship between economic development and population growth, and iii) revise the policy invariance ...

How Public Works Saved Private Enterprise: The Thomas & Betts Company in the Great Depression

Thomas & Betts was in its thirty-first year in 1929, still relatively small, but rejuvenated by a new managerial team. It had undergone a transformation from a sales agency for electrical conduit and fittings to a manufacturer of conduit fittings. It was started in the aftermath of the 1893 depression and survived the 1907-panic and the 1920 depression. Its survival can be attributed to the con...

Underestimating Costs in Public Works Projects

Comparative studies of actual and estimated costs in transportation infrastructure development are few. Where such studies exist, they are typically single-case studies or they cover a sample of projects too small to allow systematic, statistical analyses (Bruzelius et al., 1998; Fouracre et al., 1990; Hall, 1980; Nijkamp & Ubbels, 1999; Pickrell, 1990; Skamris & Flyvbjerg, 1997; Szyliowicz & G...