Federal Government Expenditures Research Articles

Public finance instruments and output growth in Nigeria

This study investigates the empirical relationship between the aggregated and disaggregated components of fiscal policy variables and output growth in Nigeria using the vector error correction mechanism for the period of 1981 to 2021. This formulation was an improvement over previous empirical studies of the impact of public finance instruments on output growth in Nigeria. Our findings suggest that fiscal policy instruments (total expenditure, capital expenditure, recurrent expenditure, total revenue, primary fiscal balance, domestic debt, external debt, oil tax revenue, and non-oil tax revenue) exert significant impacts on output growth and most of the empirical results obtained support the hypothesised relationships between public finance instruments and output growth in Nigeria. However, aggregate federal government expenditure exerts a significant negative impact on output growth, while on the disaggregated scale, capital expenditure exerts a significant positive influence on output growth whereas recurrent expenditure exerts a significant negative impact on output growth. Given these findings, we recommend that the government of Nigeria, through its fiscal authorities, should adopt growth-enhancing fiscal policies that would engender macroeconomic stability and will be potent in refocusing recurrent expenditure towards ensuring productivity growth.

A Century of Progress: U.S. Government Accountability Office Procedures, Reports, and Performance Measures

SYNOPSIS In 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) celebrated its 100th anniversary, and its mission has never been more critical. This study documents the 100-year history of GAO, examining how Congressional law changes and leadership influences of the Comptroller General of the United States have shaped GAO’s role, services, and products. GAO has transformed from focusing on providing oversight through its audits of federal government expenditures during its early years (e.g., to assess legality) to emerging as a leader in providing insights to Congress through program evaluation audits and, more recently, to providing Congress the foresight necessary to confront the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Value Added Tax and Economic Growth of Nigeria (2003-2022)

This study empirically examined the relationship between value added tax and economic growth of Nigeria. Time series data on Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue, Total (Federal Government) Revenue (TR), Total (Federal Government) Expenditure (TE) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 2003 to 2022 sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were analysed, using both simple regression analysis and descriptive statistical method. VAT was used as the independent variable while TR, TE and GDP were used as the dependent variables. Findings showed that VAT revenue accounts for a significant variation in TR, TE and GDP in Nigeria. A very significant and positive correlation also exist between VAT revenue and TE but that the contribution of VAT to TE cannot be directly traceable to any specific expenditure of government like health, education or payment of salaries. The study therefore recommends that government should use a certain percentage of VAT revenue to finance critical sectors of the economy like agriculture, power or health which have direct bearing on the citizens. This can be achieved by establishing a Value Added Tax Fund (VATFund) as is the case with Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and other Trust Funds of government.

A study of macroeconomic variables that effected employment in the United States from 1948 to 2021

The paper provides an analysis of important U.S. macroeconomic variables that effect aggregate employment. The paper seeks to answer the question “What are the deter¬minants of changes in aggregate employment in the United States of America (U.S.)?” This is an important research topic because significant increases in unemployment can have a profound effect on an entire society, not just on its unemployed workers. When employment declines, public health declines, crime increases, suicides increase, and public revenues decrease. This paper uses quarterly data from 1948-2021 to estimate the effect of important macroeconomic variables on aggregate employment. The macroeconomic variables include personal consumption expenditures, U.S. federal government expenditures, nominal GNP, international trade (imports plus exports), M3 money stock, the mini-mum wage level, non-residential fixed investment, non-manufacturing employment, and U.S. federal tax receipts.

Effect of Interest Rate Spread on Output Gap in Nigeria (A Var Granger Causality Analysis)

This study examines the effect of interest rate spread on the output gap of Nigeria by using monthly data on the output gap, interest rate spread, foreign direct investment, federal government expenditure, and inflation covering the period of M12010 to M12 2022. Employing the var granger causality model, the result shows that interest rate spread does not granger cause the output gap in Nigeria. Also, variables such as federal government expenditure, foreign direct investment, and inflation do not granger-cause Nigeria’s output gap. Given these findings, policy implications were derived. Keywords: Interest rate spread, output gap, var granger causality test.

Federal Government Expenditure on Agriculture and Agricultural Outputs in Nigeria

Every industrialised country today passed through the agrarian era. In fact, the industrial sector takes its root from the agricultural sector. In a developing nation, government expenditure power is very central to all facets of development including agriculture. In view of this the study empirically evaluated the nexus between Federal Government Spending on the four sectors (crops, livestock, forestry and fishery) of agriculture as its determined agricultural output. The study employed secondary data spanning from 1981 – 2019 sourced from the CBN Statistical Bulletin, 2019 and World Bank Development Indicators, 2019. ADF and Unit Root testing technique, Johanson co-integration test, error correction model (ECM) and Granger causality test were employed as analytical tools in the course of the study,. Each of the four sectors of Agriculture was explained by total government expenditure on agriculture, interest rate, Annual Rainfall, official exchange rate and population growth. Federal government capital expenditure was found to be positively related to agricultural output, because an increase in government expenditure on agriculture is likely to lead to a multiple increase in agricultural output. The ECM model showed that interest rate on bank loan has significant positive impact on each agricultural output, annual rainfall also has a significant positive impact on each agricultural output while official exchange rate has a negative but significant impact on each agricultural output. The policy imports of this study is that governments at all levels should seek more productive ways to invest in the agricultural sector by upgrading to mechanised farming, providing fertilizers for improved yields, providing high-yield seedlings to ensure self-sufficiency; The commercial banks should complement government’s effort in ensuring that interest on loans to the agricultural sector are favourable as this would encourage more investors in the sector, among others.

Federal Tax Revenue and Government Expenditure on Roads and Power in Nigeria

Government spending on infrastructural development is a key driver for the growth and development of any economy. Evidence from literature has shown that Nigeria was lagging behind on spending for infrastructural development as every sector of the Nigerian economy is challenged with huge infrastructure deficit and decay. The extent of government spending on roads and power in Nigeria, funded from federal tax revenue had remain uncertain. Studies have shown that while many developed and developing countries have fully diversified to income from taxes to fund infrastructure for development, Nigeria was yet to fully integrate income from taxes into its development programmes. Therefore, this study examined the effect of federal tax revenue (companies income tax, petroleum profit tax, customs and excise duties, value added tax and tertiary education tax) on government expenditure on roads and power in Nigeria. The study adopted an expo facto research design. The study evaluated the effect of federal tax revenue on government expenditure on roads and power in Nigeria from 1994-2021. A purposive sampling technique was adopted. Data were extracted from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistics Bulleting, Office of Budget and Fiscal Policy, Nigerian Exchange Group and the Federal Inland Revenue Services. The validity and reliability of data were premised on the statutory audit of the financial statements of the government agencies by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation. Descriptive and inferential (multiple regression) statistics were used to analyze the data at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that government expenditure on roads (Adj.R2 = 0.806, F (5, 21) = 25.097, p < 0.000) and government expenditure on power (Adj.R2 = 0.742; F (5, 21) = 17.63; p <0.05) were significantly affected by federal tax revenue. The study concluded that federal tax revenue influenced government expenditure on roads and power in Nigeria. Hence, the study recommended that as a priority, the Federal Inland Revenue Service and other relevant tax authorities should device and implement strategies that will ensure effective collection of tax revenue from taxpayers. The federal government should strengthen tax administration in the country through capacity development programmes for staff of the Federal

National Health Care Spending In 2021: Decline In Federal Spending Outweighs Greater Use Of Health Care.

Health care spending in the US grew 2.7percent to reach $4.3trillion in 2021, a much slower rate than the increase of 10.3percent seen in 2020. The slower rate of growth in 2021 was driven by a 3.5percent decline in federal government expenditures for health care after a spike in 2020 that occurred largely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside this decline, the use of medical goods and services increased in 2021. The share of the economy accounted for by the health sector fell from 19.7percent in 2020 to 18.3percent in 2021, but it was still higher than the 17.6percent share in 2019. In 2021 the number of uninsured people declined for the second consecutive year as Medicaid enrollment increased.

The Impact of Insecurity on Agricultural Food Loss in Nigeria.

This research examined the impact of insecurity on agricultural food loss in Nigeria using the time series data from 2011 –2020. Regression analysis was employed to evaluate the impact of insecurity on agricultural food loss in Nigeria. The relationship examined was between the dependent variable: Agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) which serves as a representative of agricultural food production. The explanatory (independent) variables are poverty rate, unemployment rate, crime rate, and federal government expenditures on internal security in Nigeria. The result indicated an R2 value of 0.42 which implies that 42% of the proportion of variation in AGDP was explained by the independent variables. Also, the result revealed that CIR and UNEMP were negatively related to Agricultural productivity (AGDP) i.e. contribution to food loss whose coefficients indicate (-0.27) and (-0.67) respectively. It is therefore recommended that Government and policymakers should make an unrelenting effort to improve the agricultural sector with the aid of modern mechanised equipment in order to reduce the level of unemployment, poverty, and crime rate in Nigeria and solve issues of insecurity in the country. Keywords: Insecurity, Agricultural productivity, Food loss, Sustainable development, Crime rate.

Effect of federal government expenditure on economic growth in Nigeria

Purpose. This study presents an evaluation of the effect of federal government expenditure on economic growth in Nigeria during the period 1986–2020. Economic growth in Nigeria over the years (precisely from 1986 when the Structural Adjustment Programme was introduced) is not in tandem with the magnificent rise in total government expenditure covering this period. The citizens have seen leadership in Nigeria as a failed litmus test, some have left the country to seek for “greener pastures” abroad. Specifically, this study examined the effect of recurrent and capital expenditure of the government on real gross domestic product, gross fixed capital formation, savings, and manufacturing capacity utilization.
 Results. The result of the analysis revealed that government recurrent expenditure has significant effect on real gross domestic product, gross fixed capital formation, and savings. Government recurrent expenditure is negatively related with real gross domestic product, gross fixed capital formation, savings, and manufacturing capacity utilization. Similarly, government capital has positive relationship with gross fixed capital formation and manufacturing capacity utilization, whereas it is negatively related with real gross domestic product and savings.
 Scientific novelty. The review of previous studies on economic growth is majorly measured using real gross domestic product. However, this study takes a new dimension by introducing three other variables: gross fixed capital formation, savings, and manufacturing capacity utilization which also reflect the level of growth in an economy. In addition, the application of the Auto-Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model which takes into consideration of the different order of integration of time series data as against the Johansen co-integration that characterized previous studies in the Nigeria environment, will robustly help in determining the short run and long run effects of Federal Government expenditure on economic growth fundamentals in Nigeria.
 Practical value. This study therefore, is re-echoing the need for government to make capital expenditure her priority. By this, the government should allocate at least 50.0 % of her total expenditure on capital projects. The present-day practice of allocating only 16.6 % (based on year 2020 approved budget of the Federal Government) for capital expenditure will not to a great extent accelerate the pace of economic growth and development in Nigeria.

Fairness in International Taxation: The Ability-to-Pay Case for Taxing Worldwide Income

Copyright © 2001 by J. Clifton Fleming, Jr., Robert J. Peroni & Stephen E. Shay. All rights reserved.The ability-to-pay fairness concept is a key factor underlying the historic U.S. policy of relying principally on the income tax to finance federal government expenditures. Indeed a major justification for this reliance, as opposed to significant dependence on consumption levies, is that the income tax is a system for spreading the costs of government in a way that advances fairness by giving substantial deference to comparative ability-to-pay.Consequently, one would expect tax policy analysts to routinely examine the equity implications of international income tax rules by applying the fairness criterion with the same rigor as in the domestic context. But surprisingly, there has been relatively little discussion in the literature regarding the role of the ability-to-pay concept in analyzing international tax policy issues. This may be because the composition of international investment historically has been dominated by the direct foreign investments of multinational corporations, which pose perplexing issues in evaluating fairness concerns. Even if true, however, this is an inadequate reason to forego analysis of fairness considerations when scrutinizing the important international dimension of a modern income tax. In this article, we examine the role that fairness concerns, embedded in the abilityto-pay concept, play in justifying the U.S. policy of taxing U.S. residents on their worldwide incomes.

The Role of Government in a Partial Transition from Public to Private in the Expanding Australian Protected Area System

Since the 1980s in democratic societies, neoliberal reforms and neofeudal governance have transferred the delivery of many public goods and services from governments to non-government actors. Privatisation is a core neoliberal agenda, but little is known of the nature and extent of its application to nature conservation through reservation. We investigate the degree of privatisation of the expanding protected area system in our case study areas of Australia and Tasmania, hypothesising that governments have: disrupted public agencies managing the protected area estate by repeated reorganisation; diverted public funds from public to private protected areas; and increasingly alienated public reserves for subsidised private profit from tourism. We found frequent restructuring of agencies managing protected areas. Although Federal Government expenditure on private reserves increased markedly in the twenty-first century, so did expenditure on public conservation reserves. All States except Queensland increased public protected area funding. Direct subsidisation of private reserves by government has not had a steady upward trajectory. In contrast, subsidisation of private alienation of public conservation reserves for tourism may have accelerated in the twenty-first century. We conclude that, while Australian governments see value in protected areas as a source of economic development and electoral advantage, they are agnostic on ownership.

Impact of Health and Agriculture Financing on Economic Growth in Nigeria

The study focused on the impact of health and agriculture financing on economic growth in Nigeria from 1981 to 2019. The study utilized the time series data which was extracted from Central Bank of Nigeria annual statistical bulletin. Unit Root test was performed with the use of Augmented Dickey-Fuller test in order to ascertain the stationarity of all the variables and they were all found to be stationary at order 1 in the two specified models (composite and disaggregated). Error Correction Model (ECM) was used to analyze the data in order to determine the speed of adjustment from the short run to the long run equilibrium state. Casualty test was used to confirm causal relationship among the variables of interests. The study revealed that Federal Government expenditure in Health sector has a significant effect on economic growth in Nigeria. Federal Government expenditure in Agricultural sector equally had a positive effect on economic growth but surprisingly not significant. Considering the disaggregated form, Federal Government capital expenditure in both Health and Agricultural sectors have positive and statistically significant effect on economic growth while Federal Government recurrent expenditure on health has a positive and statistically insignificant effect in economic. It was also revealed that there is causal relationship among the variables. Based on the findings, the study concluded that Federal Government Expenditure in Health Sectors and Agriculture Sectors have effect on economic growth in Nigeria.

Effectiveness of fiscal federalism for poverty reduction in Nigeria: an analysis of federal and state governments’ expenditures

One of the sustained political and economic strategies that have been adopted by various countries over 3 decades to achieve the desired level of development is fiscal federalism. Through this economic development strategy, various levels of government within an economy have been involved in the pursuit of reducing poverty overtime. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between government expenditure on poverty reduction with respect to federal and state government expenditures, respectively. The study employed the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimation technique to establish long-run relationship, and to examine the magnitude of the effect of federal and state government expenditures in both the short-run and long-run periods using time-series data for the period 1981–2018. Results obtained indicate that only state government expenditure has positive effect on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The findings of this study, therefore, support the need for greater decentralization and increase in fiscal expenditure responsibilities and strengthening revenue capability in favor of state governments, giving that achieving desired poverty reduction could be achieved through increased state government spending on developmental projects.

The Effect of Federal Government Revenue and Expenditure On Economic Growth in Nigeria – An Empirical Review

This study examined the effect of federal government revenue and expenditure on the economic growth of Nigeria for the period 1983 to 2018. Prior to now many studies have been completed on the subject matter and yet there doesn't seem to be a consensus of opinion amongst the different researchers on the relationship between revenue and expenditure interface in Nigeria. This could be ascribed to the different approaches gies set forward to clarify the relationship; thus warranting the need for this research .The investigation embraced an ex-post facto research design to produce test results via Bounds test, ARDL short/long run estimates and to make forecasts. The full scale economic factors used in the study includes Real Gross domestic product (proxy for economic growth), federal government retained revenue, non-oil revenue, capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure. We chose to be different in this study with a conscious omission of oil revenue as a variable of study. Findings of the research showed that federal government retained revenue; non-oil revenue and recurrent expenditure were statistically significant in explaining the relationship with economic growth in the short run; while capital expenditure was not at 5% Alpha level. Federal government retained revenue was also found to be statistically significant in the long run. On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that the influential growth variables are federal government retained revenue; non-oil revenue and recurrent expenditure. The researchers thus recommend that government should be tactful in her efforts at fiscal policy synchronization. There is need to monitor Nigeria’s expenditure pattern, increase in revenue and a consequent increase in governments retained revenue. This will make for an effective adjustment in the utilization of capital expenditures and to assist with raising the level of economic growth in Nigeria

Biodetection of a specific odor signature in mallard feces associated with infection by low pathogenic avian influenza A virus.

Outbreaks of avian influenza virus (AIV) infection included the spread of highly pathogenic AIV in commercial poultry and backyard flocks in the spring of 2015. This resulted in estimated losses of more than $8.5 million from federal government expenditures, $1.6 billion from direct losses to produces arising from destroyed turkey and chicken egg production, and economy-wide indirect costs of $3.3 billion from impacts on retailers and the food service industries. Additionally, these outbreaks resulted in the death or depopulation of nearly 50 million domestic birds. Domesticated male ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) were trained to display a specific conditioned behavior (i.e. active scratch alert) in response to feces from AIV-infected mallards in comparison to feces from healthy ducks. In order to establish that ferrets were identifying samples based on odors associated with infection, additional experiments controlled for potentially confounding effects, such as: individual duck identity, housing and feed, inoculation concentration, and day of sample collection (post-infection). A final experiment revealed that trained ferrets could detect AIV infection status even in the presence of samples from mallards inoculated with Newcastle disease virus or infectious laryngotracheitis virus. These results indicate that mammalian biodetectors are capable of discriminating the specific odors emitted from the feces of non-infected versus AIV infected mallards, suggesting that the health status of waterfowl can be evaluated non-invasively for AIV infection via monitoring of volatile fecal metabolites. Furthermore, in situ monitoring using trained biodetectors may be an effective tool for assessing population health.

IMPACT OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE IN EDUCATION ON NIGERIA ECONOMIC GROWTH (1980 – 2018)

This research work analyzed the impacts of Federal government expenditure in education on Nigeria economic growth. The study used secondary data from 1980 to 2018 and the information gathered was presented and analyzed through E-view. The study makes use of analytical statistics for the analysis of the data collected. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS), and ADF Test were employed in order for certainty, reliability of the results and to guard against obtaining spurious results. Adaptive model was employed in order to capture the short and long run effect of Federal Government expenditure in education (GEDU) on economic growth and the hypothesis say that, there is no long run impact of Federal government expenditure in education on Nigeria economic growth. However, the findings show that there is positive impact between RGDP and GEDU, and Comparing GEDU of the short run and the long run, it could be seen that the impact of Federal government expenditure in education is greater in the long run with 7.5% than in the short run. However, the challenges observed are instability, and inadequate government expenditure in education. Therefore the study recommends that quality education make labour more productive and the multiplier effect will cause an increase in aggregate output of the economy.

Cost Analysis of Cancer in Brazil: A Population-Based Study of Patients Treated by Public Health System From 2001-2015

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the federal government expenditures with oncological care, for the most incident cancer types among the Brazilian population, using registries of all patients treated by the Brazilian National Health Service (SUS) between 2001 and 2015. We adopted the formal healthcare sector perspective in this study, with the costs per patient estimated by the reimbursement price paid by the Ministry of Health to service providers. MethodsThe costs were adjusted by the follow-up time for each patient. We performed multivariate regression analysis using ordinary least squares. We analyzed 952 960 patients aged ≥19 years who underwent cancer treatment, between 2001 and 2015, for breast, prostate, colorectal, cervix, lung, and stomach cancers. ResultsThe annual mean costs per patient (in USD purchasing power parity) was $9572.30, varying from $5782.10 for breast cancer to $16 656 for cervical cancer. Several variables predicted higher costs of cancer treatment, namely: to be male (+14%), with younger age ranges at treatment initiation, resident in the Northeast region (+26%), treated for colorectal cancer (+482%), with treatment initiation from 2010 to 2014, tumor stages III and IV (III: +182%; IV: +165%), hospitalization for other reasons besides the cancer treatment, and suffering from some a comorbidity. ConclusionsGiven the forthcoming Brazilian demographic changes, which strongly suggest that the economic burden of cancer is about to increase in the near future, our estimates provide relevant information to produce useful projections about future cancer-related costs.

Government Spending and Corporate Innovation

I study the impact of government spending on corporate innovation. Using changes in U.S. Senate committee chairmanships as a source of exogenous variation in state-level federal government expenditures, I find that firms headquartered in states with increases in government spending significantly reduce their innovation output, as measured by their number of patents and the citations to these patents. These reductions are mostly concentrated in labor-intensive industries, in firms headquartered in states with lower unemployment rates, and in government-dependent industries. My findings suggest that resource diversion induced by increased government spending is a channel through which government spending may affect corporate innovation. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.

Investment in Australian mental health carer services: how much and does it reflect evidence of effectiveness?

Objective The aims of this study were to quantify Australian federal and state government expenditure on mental health carer services for 2014-15, map the types of services being provided and explore how funded service types compare with the evidence base for the outcomes of these carer services. Methods Web searches were conducted to identify in-scope mental health carer services in Australia funded by federal and state and territory governments. Funding estimates were confirmed where possible with available government and carer organisation contacts. A literature search was conducted for reviews of studies investigating mental health carer service outcomes. Results In 2014-15, the estimated Australian national, state and territory government expenditure on mental health carer services was approximately A$90.6million. This comprised A$65.6million in federal expenditure and A$25.0million in state and territory expenditure. Most funding streams provided respite and psychoeducation. The literature showed positive carer outcomes for psychoeducation and intensive family interventions. Evidence was lacking for the effectiveness of respite services. Conclusions These findings suggest a mismatch between what is known about the extent to which different service types deliver positive carer outcomes and the current allocation of funds across Australia's mental health system. This study also highlights the fragmentation of the mental health carer services system, supporting the need to streamline access. What is known about this topic? Informal carers of people with mental disorders provide a critical role to the significant number of individuals with mental illness in Australia, and provide an unpaid workforce to the Australian mental health system. This role comes with significant physical, emotional and financial burden, which government-funded services can assist with to allow mental health carers to continue to serve in their caring role while improving their quality of life. What does this paper add? Using both published data and communication with health and non-government officials, we have estimated federal and state expenditure on mental health carer services at A$90.6million in 2014-15 fiscal year and have provided a mapping of the services this expenditure funds. In addition, through analysis of the literature on outcomes of carer services provided, we have seen a mismatch of expenditure and the evidence base. What are the implications for practitioners? There is a necessity for both more research into service outcomes aimed particularly at mental health carers and thinking critically about whether the current prioritisation of funds can be increased and/or reallocated to create better outcomes for mental health carers.