Alcázar, L. y Jaramillo, M. (2022). Inversión pública y desigualdad en América Latina (Documentos de Investigación N° 124). Lima: GRADE.

Based on two case studies, in Peru and Colombia, this study finds that public investment has an inequality-reducing effect, but a very small one, so that a large investment would be needed to achieve a minimal reduction in inequality. In addition, it is found that the effect of public investment depends on the level of government that carries it out, although there are differences between the two countries. In Peru, the evidence shows that public investment by the national government and municipalities has an effect in reducing inequality, while that of regional governments has no effect. Among the factors that may explain these differences is the nature of the public investment projects that predominate at each level, which may determine their redistributive potential. For example, investment in sanitation -probably pro-poor, since it provides this basic service to those who do not have it- is more important in local governments, 20% of the total, than at the other levels, where it is less than 5%.