In this paper, we analyse the effects of public expenditures and their structure on productivity growth in industry and services in the European Union (EU) countries (1996–2017). We also control for the share of expenditures made by central governments. We find that productivity growth in industry decreases with government expenditures on environmental protection. As for services, productivity growth declines with military expenditures and increases with the centralisation of expenditures on public order and safety. These effects are mainly noted in Eastern European countries, and are less pronounced in Western Europe. Lower corruption increases productivity growth. Furthermore, our estimates suggest that there is a convergence in productivities across EU member states, with convergence faster in the service sector than in the industrial sector. These findings carry important policy implications.

在本文中，我们分析了公共支出及其结构对欧盟（EU）国家（1996-2017年）工业和服务业生产率增长的影响。我们还控制了中央政府支出的份额。我们发现，随着政府在环境保护方面的支出，工业生产率的增长会下降。在服务方面，生产率的增长随着军费开支的增长而下降，而随着公共秩序和安全支出的集中化而提高。这些影响主要在东欧国家中注意到，而在西欧则不太明显。减少腐败可以提高生产率。此外，我们的估计表明，欧盟成员国之间的生产率趋同，服务部门的趋同速度快于工业部门。