Higher Public Spending Research Articles

Can Social Policy Alleviate Loneliness Among Older Adults? A Comparative Analysis of OECD Countries

ABSTRACT Loneliness in old age is a multifaceted issue influenced by personal, social, and environmental factors, necessitating a holistic approach. However, most research has predominantly focused on individual-level risk factors, with limited attention given to institutional factors such as social policy. This study investigated how social policies impact loneliness among older adults. Multi-level analysis was conducted using data from the 2017 wave of International Social Survey Programme, involving 6,337 older adults from 23 OECD countries. The analysis revealed that higher public spending on welfare and old-age pensions significantly reduces the likelihood of loneliness among older adults. These findings confirm the protective role of generous social policies in addressing old-age loneliness. They underscore the need for long-term changes in welfare systems to enhance the public response to the significant social risk posed by old-age loneliness.

Agenda of Federal System in Nepal: Nexus of Fiscal Federalism and Controlled Corruption

This research critically assesses Nepal's fiscal federalism, focusing on the interconnectedness of budget allocation, spending, revenue generation, and corruption at the provincial level. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines quantitative data analysis with qualitative insights to evaluate how weaknesses in fiscal management erode public trust in federalism. The findings show that while decentralizing power and resources is a core objective of the federal system, provincial governments remain heavily dependent on federal transfers due to limited internal revenue generation. The study reveals that provinces fall short of meeting public expectations, primarily due to insufficient and poorly managed expenditure capacities, resulting in substantial underperformance. Additionally, the research identifies a significant correlation between increased budget allocation and corruption, highlighting that higher public spending often leads to financial misconduct. This is reflected in unspent budgets and frequent misuse of public funds, which amplify public dissatisfaction with the federal system. The study emphasizes the need for improved fiscal autonomy, stronger accountability frameworks, and more effective resource-sharing mechanisms to enhance the efficiency of provincial governments and address rising concerns about the viability of federalism.

Efficiency of government policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We introduce country-month indices of efficiency of government policy in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Our indices cover 81 countries and the period from May 2020 to November 2021. Our framework assumes that governments impose stringent policies (listed in the Oxford COVID-19 Containment and Health Index) with the single goal of saving lives. We find that positive and significant correlates of our new indices are institutions, democratic principles, political stability, trust, high public spending in health, female participation in the workplace, and economic equality. Within the efficient jurisdictions, the most efficient ones are those with cultural characteristics of high patience.

COVID‐19 Policy Interventions and Fertility Dynamics in the Context of Pre‐Pandemic Welfare Support

AbstractThis paper focuses on nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to explain fertility dynamics during the pandemic, while considering countries’ institutional context. We argue that containment policies disrupted people's lives and increased their uncertainty more in countries with weak welfare support systems, while health‐related and economic support NPIs mitigated such disruptions much more there, as they were less expected by citizens. We estimate monthly “excess” crude birth rates (CBRs) and find that countries with low public support—Southern Europe, East Asia, and Eastern Europe—experienced larger decreases and less of a rebound in CBRs than countries with histories of high public spending—Western, Central, and Northern Europe. However, in low support countries, NPIs are much more strongly associated with excess CBRs—containment NPIs more negatively and health and economic support NPIs more positively—with the exception of the one‐month lag of containment NPIs, for which the opposite holds. When putting these coefficients into broader perspective, our findings suggest that the actual implementation of all NPIs taken together mitigated fertility declines. This is especially the case for low public support countries, whereas one might have seen a birth decline even in high support countries if the NPIs were not implemented.

Salus Platform: A Digital Health Solution Tool for Managing Syphilis Cases in Brazil-A Comparative Analysis.

(1) Introduction: Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that constitutes a serious public health problem in Brazil and worldwide; (2) Methods: This was a descriptive and exploratory study that sought to analyze and compare the characteristics of Brazilian health systems with a new platform (Salus) developed by the Laboratory of Technological Innovation in Health in the scope of notification and management of disease data, including syphilis. In addition, this analysis aimed to assess whether Salus fully meets the necessary data management fields and can be indicated as a tool to improve health management in the context of syphilis in Brazil. (3) Results: In this study, the Salus functionalities were demonstrated and compared with the current Brazilian systems by discovering the existing gaps in the evaluated systems. The gaps found may explain the delay in meeting demands, the difficulty of making routine therapeutic follow-ups, in addition to interference with the vital purpose of follow-up in the epidemiological surveillance of diseases. As a result, Salus demonstrates functionalities that surpass all others and meet case management demands in a superior way to the systems currently used in the country. (4) Conclusions: The Brazilian health information systems related to the response to syphilis do not fulfill the purpose for which they were developed. Instead, they contribute to the fragmentation of health data and information, delays in diagnosis, incomplete case management, and loss of data due to inconsistencies and inadequate reporting. In addition, they are systems without interconnection, which do not articulate epidemiological surveillance actions with primary health care. All these factors may be obscuring accurate data on syphilis in Brazil, resulting in high and unnecessary public spending and late care for users of the Unified Health System (SUS).

The impact of cold waves and heat waves on mortality: Evidence from a lower middle-income country.

We estimate the impact of temperature extremes on mortality in Vietnam, using daily data on temperatures and monthly data on mortality during the 2000-2018 period. We find that both cold and heat waves cause higher mortality, particularly among older people and those living in the hot regions in Southern Vietnam. This effect on mortality tends to be smaller in provinces with higher rates of air-conditioning and emigration, and provinces with higher public spending on health. Finally, we estimate economic cost of cold and heat waves using a framework of willingness to pay to avoid deaths, then project the cost to the year 2100 under different Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios.

The Governance of the Colombian Health System from the Stakeholders’ Perspective

Although health governance can bring benefits, such as higher public spending, control of corruption, higher levels of participation and better management, there is no unified notion of the term or the associated processes. The aim of this research is to understand the actors’ perspective on the governance of the Colombian health system. To this end, a qualitative study is carried out, based on the application of a survey with structured and open questions to 141 leaders of the health system, under a non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The analysis shows a low knowledge of the term governance. Governance is rated at a low level (2.5/5.0), as are its key functions (2.6); with citizen participation, transparency and accountability being the worst rated. In addition, there knowledge of the Coordination and Advisory Body and the Intersectoral Commission on Public Health is lacking, and the contribution of both to the system’s objectives is considered low. Most of the participants pointed out corruption as the main problem of the system (72%), in addition to the articulation of actors (41%) and lack of financing (30%). Among the strengths and opportunities, the regulatory framework and the Statutory Health Law stand out. It is concluded that, despite the achievements, the health system has difficulties and situations to be solve, such as corruption, showing weak governance. The lack of appropriate and effective bodies or spaces for discussion, coordination and decision-making is notorious, in order to guarantee the right to health.

"A Brief Overview on the Methods of Impact Evaluation of Public Policies"

Non-communicable chronic diseases are a global public health problem, due to their high morbidity and mortality [1]. These diseases also generate temporary and permanent physical incapacities, impact the quality of life of individuals, and are responsible for high public spending on their treatment

"The Law on First Aid and Its Compliance in Ghana: The Case of Drivers in Madina Bus Terminal, Accra"

Non-communicable chronic diseases are a global public health problem, due to their high morbidity and mortality [1]. These diseases also generate temporary and permanent physical incapacities, impact the quality of life of individuals, and are responsible for high public spending on their treatment

Health Care Reform in Greece: Progress and Reform Priorities

We review Greek public sector healthcare policies and health-related outcomes since 2010.We find that excess spending was successfully curtailed, elements of the institutional framework were modernized, and health outcomes have been relatively favorable. However, especially prior to Covid-19, public healthcare spending had been compressed to potentially unsustainable levels, with widening inequalities and large unmet needs, especially among the poor. Higher public spending and advancing structural healthcare reforms are needed to improve the efficiency and equity of the Greek healthcare system, including strengthening primary healthcare, reducing out-of-pocket payments, and eliminating remaining insurance gaps.

Why Asian Countries are Controlling the Pandemic Better Than the United States and Western Europe.

The coronavirus pandemic has shed light on the detrimental impact of neoliberal policies on public health and well-being and as a result, there have been calls for increases in public spending to rectify the lack of public health services. However, neoliberal right-wing parties have dismissed such calls, pointing instead to Asian countries as examples in successfully controlling the pandemic without high public health spending, attributing this to the entrepreneurial orientation of their governments, as opposed to their public services. This article refutes this idea, instead charting the reasons that Asian countries have better controlled the pandemic including prior experience of pandemics, cultural factors, and various successful public health policies. The article concludes by looking at the example of Trump and demonstrating the inadequacies of the business model for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Corruption, Democracy, and Public Debt: a Case of the Arab Countries

Previous studies on the effect of corruption on public debt have produced mixed results. Therefore, in an attempt to explain these ambiguous results, we tried this study examine the impact of corruption on the public debt while taking into account the role of democracy. For this reason, we used the general method of moments (GMM) to empirically test this impact in 16 countries of the Arab world over the 2000/2016 period. In fact, the obtained results through the use of the GMM model showed that the higher levels of corruption can lead to high levels of public debt. Moreover, given the role of democracy, an increase in corruption can lead to an increase in public debt if the level of democracy is too low, while if it is high, public debt stops to rise. In fact, the obtained results indicate that a high public spending and a larger shadow economy amplify the effect of corruption on the public debt. Moreover, our estimation confirms the existence of a non-linear relationship between democracy and public debt. On the other hand, there is a threshold beyond which the Arab countries can manage to control their debt. Therefore, to check for the robustness of the results, we made estimations of the impact of the democratization process on public debt through the use of different indexes for both corruption and democracy beside a different proxy for the shadow economy. In fact, these variables continue to have a statistically significant effect on public debt. As a consequence, the results showed that higher levels of corruption, a larger shadow economy, and a lower value of democracy are conducive to the accumulation of public debt. Some policy implications and recommendations for the Arab countries are also discussed.

Efficiency of Government Policy during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier models, we introduce a new country-month index of efficiency of government policy in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Our indices are in respect of 81 countries and cover the period from May 2020 to March 2021. Our framework assumes that governments impose stringent policies with the ultimate goal of saving lives. We use policies listed in the Oxford COVID-19 Containment and Health Index as government policy input, and a deaths-based measure as the output. Importantly, we estimate our output to account for country-month variations in the quality of reporting deaths. Based on their average efficiency, the top five countries are Taiwan, Japan, Estonia, Finland, and New Zealand. We also examine the correlates of our new indices and find that the important and positive ones are institutions, democratic principles, political stability, high public spending in health, female participation in the workplace, and economic equality. Within the efficient jurisdictions, the most efficient ones are those with cultural characteristics of low power distance and high patience. The new index and its correlates produce several avenues for future research.

Assessment of Vietnam’s public debt in the current period

The article is based on secondary data collected from the Financial Statistical Yearbook of the Ministry of Finance and utilizes descriptive statistical methods to assess the current state of Vietnam's public debt in the current period on three aspects consisting of government debt, governmentguaranteed debt, and local government debt. On that basis, the author employs indicators to evaluate the level of the public debt of Vietnam over the period 2006-2019, and assesses the sustainability and safety of Vietnam's public debt compared to those of other countries in the ASEAN region. Research results show that although public debt in Vietnam is still within the allowable ceiling, it has shown signs of increasing in recent years, and the Government has failed to reach the target of maintaining government debt at less than 50%/GDP. The main reason for the increase in government debt stems from the budget deficit, inefficient public spending and public investment, causing loss and waste of investment capital, putting Vietnam into a double deficit of high public budget deficit and spending deficit in recent years. More importantly, the public debt ratio of Vietnam is also relatively high compared to other countries in the ASEAN region, indicating that public debt is posing potential risks to the economy. On that basis, the article also analyzes the causes of high public debt, from which a number of recommendations are proposed to help control the issue in Vietnam.

A multilevel approach to ECEC policies and intensity of formal childcare participation of young children in Europe

This study explores the relationship between ECEC participation for young children (0–2-year-olds) and ECEC policies using multilevel Tobit modelling. At the micro-level, the socio-ecological model is employed to control for the individual- and family-related circumstances, using the EU-SILC data from 2014; and at the macro-level, policy measures regarding the provision, regulation, and financing of ECEC are tested. Particular attention is paid to the role of these policies on two major sources of disadvantage: low-income status and migration background. The findings reveal that hourly ECEC participation is higher in countries where the legal entitlement to ECEC and free ECEC provision start early, the ECEC system is unitary, the structural quality standards are high, and public spending per child is high, and the parental fees are low. While universal access and structural quality policies are particularly favourable for disadvantaged children, high public spending and low parental or private financing for ECEC do not correlate with higher use by disadvantaged children, confirming the risk of a Matthew effect with the way ECEC is financed.

Workforce Ageing and Labour Productivity Dynamics

Abstract This paper adopts a neoclassical framework to study the effect of age composition of the working-age population on labour productivity and its determinants, based on an unbalanced panel of 64 non-oil-producing countries, over the period 1950-2017. Our first contribution comes from testing whether a shock in age structure has the ability to permanently shift labour productivity dynamics. From methodological standpoint, we try to reduce the risk of model mispecification in the existing literature, that has often overlooked the possibility of cross-sectional dependence in the data and heterogeneity in slope coefficients. We also note the importance of time series properties of the data for valid statistical inference. Our results indicate, that ageing of the working-age population depresses labour productivity growth; negative impact of individuals aged between 55 and 64 on total factor productivity growth is only partially offset by its positive impact on human and physical capital accumulation. For sustaining the current level of living standards, adoption of policies, which forestall the negative impact of older workers on innovation process and promote their positive impact on the supply of production factors, is of crucial importance. We do not find evidence, that higher public spending on education in% of GDP has such an effect.

STABILITY OF FISCAL REVENUES IN EU: WHAT TO TAX?

Certain and predictable tax revenues are desirable by states to run fiscal policy smoothly and minimize any negative effects of business cycles. Over the last decades sizes of government budgets in most EU Member States have experienced rather small transformations. However, particular kinds of taxes contribute to that stability to different extent. Although, this matter is important from the perspective of state budget, it has not been analysed thoroughly before – especially in EU. Based on statistical analysis of macroeconomic data I calculated that revenues from payroll taxes feature especially low variability and positively influence the budget constancy. Changes over time are slightly bigger for taxes imposed on production. Inflows from taxation of income of corporations are particularly unstable. These findings may support policymakers in appropriate budget revenues design. Expansionary fiscal policy is believed to boost economic growth ( (Aschauer, 1989), (Munnell, 1990)). Public investments are traditionally believed to support long-term growth of economies (Barro, Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous, 1990). On the other hand low taxes should support development of economy as well ((Engen & Skinner, 1992), (Daveri & Tabellini, 2000), (Karras & Furceri, 2009), (Padovano & Galli, 2001) or (Lee & Gordon, 2005) to mention only selected research). For example Romer and Romer estimated that a 1% increase in taxation relative to GDP induces reduced output of up to 3% over the following three years (Romer & Romer, 2007). Mountford and Uhling claimed that tax cuts - even if financed from budget deficit – are most effective from the perspective of economy growth (Mountford & Uhlig, 2008). Blanchard and Perotti found that tax shocks affect investment, consumption and output (Blanchard & Perotti, 2002). However, some empirical analysis failed to confirm significance of the relation between GDP and tax rates ((Easterly & Rebelo, 1993), (Mendoza, Milesi-Ferretti, & Asea, 1997)). The correlation between the level of the tax rate and output was found to be indeed negative but sometimes non-existing. These results are in line with common sense. However, in the long run high public spending cannot be combined with low taxes (assuming that low taxes transfer into smaller budget revenues). High public deficits, which may arise in consequence of expansionary fiscal policy, are eventually harmful for economic growth in the long-run. Therefore, satisfactory inflows from taxes are desirable. Maintaining balanced budgets is a typical objective of several world economies. Yet this requirement seems key for European Monetary Union states, which use single currency and hence lead common monetary policy [1]. To improve economic stability of those countries and to provide for at least impeded policy-mix tools, certain requirements related to fiscal policy were imposed on them. According to the so called Convergence Criteria (also known as Maastricht Criteria)(i) the ratio of the annual government deficit to GDP must not exceed 3 percent and (ii) the ratio of government debt to GDP must not exceed 60 percent. However, several Member States are struggling against high budget deficits which are followed by excessive public debts. Most EU Member States have been returning to balance over last years and in 2017 almost half of them recorded government surplus. However, the budget deficit for the EU as a whole is still substantial and in 2017 amounted to 81.6% of its GDP. This is far more than before the crisis in 2007 when a figure of 57.5% of GDP was recorded. Moreover, although from peak in 2014 general government debt decreased on average in a number of Member States, still in 2017 as much as 12 out of 19 eurozone countries bound by the Maastricht criteria recorded debt above required level of 60% of local GDP. Identification of reliable sources of state revenues may provide a useful tool to cope with that issues.

Impact of Political Economy on Population Health: A Systematic Review of Reviews.

Background. Although there is a large literature examining the relationship between a wide range of political economy exposures and health outcomes, the extent to which the different aspects of political economy influence health, and through which mechanisms and in what contexts, is only partially understood. The areas in which there are few high-quality studies are also unclear. Objectives. To systematically review the literature describing the impact of political economy on population health. Search Methods. We undertook a systematic review of reviews, searching MEDLINE, Embase, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, ProQuest Public Health, Sociological Abstracts, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, EconLit, SocINDEX, Web of Science, and the gray literature via Google Scholar. Selection Criteria. We included studies that were a review of the literature. Relevant exposures were differences or changes in policy, law, or rules; economic conditions; institutions or social structures; or politics, power, or conflict. Relevant outcomes were any overall measure of population health such as self-assessed health, mortality, life expectancy, survival, morbidity, well-being, illness, ill health, and life span. Two authors independently reviewed all citations for relevance. Data Collection and Analysis. We undertook critical appraisal of all included reviews by using modified Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) criteria and then synthesized narratively giving greater weight to the higher-quality reviews. Main Results. From 4912 citations, we included 58 reviews. Both the quality of the reviews and the underlying studies within the reviews were variable. Social democratic welfare states, higher public spending, fair trade policies, extensions to compulsory education provision, microfinance initiatives in low-income countries, health and safety policy, improved access to health care, and high-quality affordable housing have positive impacts on population health. Neoliberal restructuring seems to be associated with increased health inequalities and higher income inequality with lower self-rated health and higher mortality. Authors' Conclusions. Politics, economics, and public policy are important determinants of population health. Countries with social democratic regimes, higher public spending, and lower income inequalities have populations with better health. There are substantial gaps in the synthesized evidence on the relationship between political economy and health, and there is a need for higher-quality reviews and empirical studies in this area. However, there is sufficient evidence in this review, if applied through policy and practice, to have marked beneficial health impacts. Public Health Implications. Policymakers should be aware that social democratic welfare state types, countries that spend more on public services, and countries with lower income inequalities have better self-rated health and lower mortality. Research funders and researchers should be aware that there remain substantial gaps in the available evidence base. One such area concerns the interrelationship between governance, polities, power, macroeconomic policy, public policy, and population health, including how these aspects of political economy generate social class processes and forms of discrimination that have a differential impact across social groups. This includes the influence of patterns of ownership (of land and capital) and tax policies. For some areas, there are many lower-quality reviews, which leave uncertainties in the relationship between political economy and population health, and a high-quality review is needed. There are also areas in which the available reviews have identified primary research gaps such as the impact of changes to housing policy, availability, and tenure.

Inégalité intergénérationnelle et recyclage d’une taxe carbone

Cet article analyse les effets redistributifs intergénérationnels du recyclage d’une taxe carbone et leur influence sur le choix public quant aux modalités de recyclage de cette taxe. Nous utilisons un modèle à générations imbriquées paramétré sur données réelles. Nous considérons deux scénarios de réforme, selon que la taxe carbone est recyclée par des dépenses publiques plus élevées ou des impôts directs moins élevés – impliquant alors un « deuxième dividende » pour la croissance. Une taxe carbone recyclée par des impôts plus faibles pèse sur le bien-être intertemporel des baby-boomers mais est plus favorable aux jeunes et aux cohortes futures. Surtout, un planificateur social peut recycler une taxe sur le carbone en augmentant les dépenses plutôt qu’en réduisant les impôts si son aversion pour l’inégalité intergénérationnelle est suffisamment élevée.

Party membership and social movement activism: A macro–micro analysis

This article examines the macro–micro dynamics linking party membership with protest participation. We theorise that institutional and extra-institutional engagement are mutually reinforcing and that party membership has a positive effect on party activism. We examine key ideational and structural factors identified in the literature to analyse the relative importance of various factors for party members’ involvement. We look at micro-macro-level linkages by examining macro-level contextual variables as well as the extent to which these features mediate the individual-level effects. Our results suggest that party members support social movements for a variety of ideational and structural reasons but that strategic reasons are also important. Moreover, we find that contexts marked by more open political opportunities close the gap in social movement activism between party members and non-members suggesting that contexts with higher public spending as well as crises could be capitalised on to engage the wider public into political activism.