Journal of International Business and Economics

Public Spending on Infrastructures and Productive Efficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Analysis from the Stochastic Production Frontier on Panel Data
Georges D. Mbondo

Abstract
This article highlights differences on how public infrastructure spending impacts on the productive efficiency of 27 sub-Saharan Africa countries grouped into three economic zones, namely CEMAC, ECOWAS and COMESA. It mobilizes the approach of panel data stochastic production frontier to calculate efficiency scores achieved between 1990 and 2012, determines the specific effects of different economic zones and business cycles on productive efficiency, and tries to explain the origin of the disparities. Although the results show that the impact of public infrastructure spending on productive efficiency is positive in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, it appears that, while this impact is not significant in the CEMAC zone, it is strongly significant in ECOWAS and COMESA. The implications are that, in such a context, the management of such expenses must meet a strategic medium-term deposit which operates productivity and creates incentives for business frameworks. The paper is therefore in line with endogenous growth theories which attribute virtues of improved total factor productivity and competitiveness of economies to public spending.

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