No less important than the question of how much should be spent on public investment is the question of how this  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  money should be spent. Because, as every private investor is aware, not every investment is ultimately worth the money, and the same holds true for the public sector.
In any case, public investment only represents a relatively small share of total investment. And as I already indicated: such investment cannot be steered arbitrarily but should instead reflect demographic trends and productivity gains. This brings me to the all-important question: how can an economy’s productivity be maximised?