If you build hospitals, roads and railways, growth will follow | Torsten Bell

Public investment projects bring the short-term benefits of job creation, but their long-term effects are far more beneficial

We shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Nor judge a research paper by its title. “Discussion paper No.5: Public investment and potential output”, just published by the Office for Budget Responsibility, doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs. But unenticing is not the same as unimportant.

This is the official forecaster telling us what economic impact it expects public investment – public spending that creates an asset, like a road or hospital – to have.

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