Theoretical principles of budget transfers as an instrument of public welfare financial regulation

Abstract

The budget transfers are widely used as a tool for financial regulation of public welfare in the market economy. At the same time, there aren't many scientific publications on this problem. The theoretical basis for the use of social budget transfers has not been fully elaborated. There is not the united approach to understanding the nature, features of social budget transfers, their classification. The purpose of the paper is to deepen the understanding of the essence of the social budget transfers, to characterize their immanent features and approaches to their classification. The methodological basis of the paper is a dialectical approach to the scientific knowledge of the social budget transfers, which involves the application of general and specific scientific research methods. The paper reveals the differences between the Ukrainian and foreign science in the study of social budget transfers. It is justified that in the Ukrainian financial science the budget transfers are mainly considered as an instrument of intergovernmental relations and support of local budgets. Instead, the role of budget transfers in public welfare providing is not studied enough. It is proposed to differentiate budget transfers into external and internal (intergovernmental), which are the varieties of social budget transfers. It is found that the key features of social budget transfers are that they have a motivational component and also characterize cash flow from the budget to final recipients, such as individuals or households. As part of social budget transfers, it is proposed to separate the specific and block, depending on the clarity of the established restrictions on their purpose.