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Trends in British public investment
Author(s) -
Clark Tom,
Elsby Mike,
Love Sarah
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
fiscal studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1475-5890
pISSN - 0143-5671
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-5890.2002.tb00063.x
Subject(s) - public investment , investment (military) , economics , government (linguistics) , public sector , open ended investment company , government spending , private sector , economic policy , finance , market economy , economy , economic growth , return on investment , macroeconomics , political science , public welfare , politics , welfare , production (economics) , linguistics , philosophy , law
British public investment has declined sharply both as a share of GDP and as a share of government spending since the 1970s. Only part of this decline is explained by privatisation, which transferred some public investment to the private sector. More important was the very large and permanent reduction in public house‐building between the mid‐1970s and the early 1980s. Between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the rate of public investment recovered somewhat, but after that time it declined again, reaching a record low in 1999. The most recent decline in public investment has affected a range of central government programmes, and it has not been significantly offset by investment under the Private Finance Initiative. The government now plans to increase investment spending, although levels look set to remain low by historical standards for some time to come.