TY  - JOUR
AU  - Easterly,William
AU  - Rebelo,Sergio
TI  - Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4499
PY  - 1994
Y2  - May 1994
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4499
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4499.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
William Easterly
New York University
Department of Economics
19 W. 4th Street, 6th floor
New York NY 10012
Tel: 212/992-8684
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: william.easterly@nyu.edu

Sergio Rebelo
Northwestern University
Kellogg School of Management
Department of Finance
Leverone Hall
Evanston, IL  60208-2001
Tel: 847/467-2329
Fax: 847/491-5719
E-Mail: s-rebelo@northwestern.edu
AB  - This paper describes the empirical regularities relating fiscal policy variables, the level of development and the rate of growth.  We employ historical data, recent cross-section data, and newly constructed public investment series.  Our main findings are: (i) there is a strong association between the development level and the fiscal structure: poor countries rely heavily on international trade taxes, while income taxes are only important in developed economies; (ii) fiscal policy is influenced by the scale of the economy, measured by its population; (iii) investment in transport and communication is consistently correlated with growth while the effects of taxation are difficult to isolate empirically.
ER  -