Effect of Public Investment on Private Investment and Economic Growth: Evidence From Vietnam by Economic Industries

Abstract

This study is to assess the impact of public investment on private investment and economic growth in Vietnam based on data from 22 economic industries over a 27-year period (1990-2016) by applying PVAR model combined with GMM. The results show that public investment and state sector investment (including public investment and state-owned enterprise investment for production and business activities) has the same positive impact economic growth in most economic industries in the long term, but state sector investment also creates more growth effects in the short term. Public investment has a cyclical impact on private capital stock (domestic private + FDI capital stock) and FDI investment; it has the effect of boosting domestic private investment, FDI investment in the short and long term. Meanwhile, state-sector investment has decreased the private capital stock in the short term, crowds out domestic private and FDI investments in the short term, and in the long term. Both public investment and state sector investment has the effect of increasing public debt in the long term. Based on these results we have some policy recommendations to increase efficiency of public investment and state sector investment.