02175cas a2200277 a 4500 AALejournalIMF017604 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781475595932 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Atolia, Manoj. Investing in Public Infrastructure : Roads or Schools? / Manoj Atolia, Bin Grace Li, Ricardo Marto, Giovanni Melina. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2017. 1 online resource (44 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students Why do governments in developing economies invest in roads and not enough in schools? In the presence of distortionary taxation and debt aversion, the different pace at which roads and schools contribute to economic growth turns out to be central to this decision. Specifically, while costs are front-loaded for both types of investment, the growth benefits of schools accrue with a delay. To put things in perspective, with a 'big push,' even assuming a large (15 percent) return differential in favor of schools, the government would still limit the fraction of the investment scale-up going to schools to about a half. Besides debt aversion, political myopia also turns out to be a crucial determinant of public investment composition. A 'big push,' by accelerating growth outcomes, mitigates myopia-but at the expense of greater risks to fiscal and debt sustainability. Tied concessional financing and grants can potentially mitigate the adverse effects of both debt aversion and political myopia. Mode of access: Internet Li, Bin Grace. Marto, Ricardo. Melina, Giovanni. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2017/105 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2017/105/001.2017.issue-105-en.xml IMF e-Library