Level Of Public Spending Research Articles

Fiscal policy and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa: unveiling the role of information and communication technology (ICT)

PurposeThe aim of this study is twofold. First, this study examines the effect of fiscal policy on sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Second, this study also investigates the moderating role of information and communication technology (ICT) in fiscal policy–sustainable development nexus in SSA.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a battery of econometric techniques such as the ordinary least square (OLS), the two-step system generalized method of moments, Driscoll and Kraay covariance matrix estimator and the dynamic panel threshold model.FindingsThis study found that fiscal policy, except for public spending on education do not promote sustainable development in SSA. However, the authors found that ICT promotes sustainable development in SSA, and that when fiscal policy interacts with ICT, the results show that ICT enhances the effectiveness of fiscal policy to promote sustainable development in SSA. Furthermore, this study uncovers the optimal levels of public spending on health and education, and public debts that engenders sustainable development in SSA. The research and policy implications are discussed.Originality/valueThis study assessed the role of ICT in fiscal policy–sustainable development nexus.

Beyond trade-offs: Exploring the changing interplay of public and private welfare provision in old age and health in the historical long-run

Modern welfare states compete with private providers of welfare in offering economic security. This is most evident in the case of pensions competing with life insurance and private pensions as well as of public health insurance competing with private insurance providers. The common view of this public–private relationship is one of a trade-off: longitudinally, political scientists describe how retrenchment was pushed by privatized welfare, whereas economists trace the crowding-out of private to public welfare provisions. Cross-sectionally, they claim that countries have lower public spending levels because they have a large private sector. We suggest a more nuanced view. Drawing on a new long-run panel data of public pension and private life insurance expenditures and contributions in 20 OECD countries since Bismarck to the current day, we show that in the postwar years a cross-sectional trade-off emerged, which then faded. Longitudinally, complementary relationships of public and private provision growth have become the norm. We argue theoretically and show empirically that trade-offs only occur if governments still hold (waning) anti-interventionist and pro-market views.

Cost-effectiveness of the top 100 drugs by public spending in Canada, 2015–2021: a repeated cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo assess the distribution and spending by cost-effectiveness category among those drugs with the highest public spending levels in Canada.DesignRepeated cross-sectional study.SettingThe Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova...

Allocating budget in developing countries, the need to fight corruption: evidence from Sub-Saharan African countries

This paper highlights the need to fight corruption in developing economies to ensure a better allocation of public resources in a context of institutional failure with the discretionary power of budgetary authorities. The study uses a panel of 48 Sub-Saharan African countries by combining several databases (WDI, WGI, SPEED BASE DATA and PWT), estimate by generalized moment method in system, the bias-corrected estimation linear dynamic panel data [6] and the type of error correction (Driscoll–Kraay). The results indicate that the phenomenon of corruption in the form of rent capture has two effects on public resources. One effect is linked to the level of public spending and the other to the distribution of public resources. Thus, corruption leads to an increase in the overall level of public spending. Corruption reduces spending on education, mining and communications, but increases spending on the military, health and transport. The study recommends that political leaders in developing countries strengthen and rigorously enforce anti-corruption laws, and raise public awareness of the underground economy.

Конец эпохи доминирования либеральной идеологии в условиях возрастающих вызовов

This article attempts to clarify ideas about ideology – what it is, how it is transmitted, how useful it is for understanding society and how it is used by the political elite. The relevance of ideology for modern politics is also studied. Ideology is a system of certain views, ideas, concepts and concepts held by any class, political party or state. Ideology is always a reflection of the prevailing political trends at the moment. Political debate is widespread in society. Whether we realize it or not, most of us are political scientists at a simple level. In society, citizens are expected to have an opinion on a wide range of issues that either directly as individuals or collectively as citizens affect their lives. Even at a simple, uncomplicated level, we have views on the «right» form of government, the «right» role of government in society, how «democratic» our own political system is, the right level of public spending, and so on. We regularly use these ideological beliefs when we try to make sense of the world. They may be illogical, well-structured, or even consistent, but the opinions and actions of the political elite will refer to these beliefs. Liberalism as an ideology is facing an increasing challenge from other ideologies. The increasing influence of nationalist parties, the growing influence of the Islamic world, the emergence of the second superpower of the PRC, the formation of restrictions and barriers between countries, the military and economic confrontation of Western countries with the Russian Federation reveals new problems in the formation of ideological trends.

Impact Of Public Expenditure on Health Outcomes in Tamil Nadu

The level of public spending has emerged as one of the most significant measures of development for the priorities of the elected government. Public expenditure is essential to achieving the government's development objectives. Government of India committed to spend minimum 3 percent of GDP for public health. However, until now the goal has not been realized which forces the sizable number of poor people to spend from their pockets. Both union and state governments together spend just about 1 percent of GDP for health. Analyzing the impact of public spending on health outcomes in Tamil Nadu is the study's main objective. Nonetheless, the concerning disparity in our health care is evident from health indices such as the rate of malnourishment, life expectancy at birth, sex ratio, maternal mortality rate, and infant mortality rate. Health spending by the Government in India accounts for less than 1 percent of GDP and this also brought down the basic health indicators and poor health infrastructure such as reductions in dispensaries, number of beds, doctors per patient and number of primary health centres followed by sub-centres. The study examined the impacts of public spending on health outcomes and its results in Tamil Nadu with relevant indicators using the Vector Error Correction model. The result revealed that public expenditure has positive association with dispensaries, number of doctors and number of nurses, meaning that increase in public expenditure. The study concludes that the most of the health indicators respond positively for improved public spending on health infrastructure like primary health centres, preventive health, maternity care, nutrition and so on. Hence, both efficiency level of public spending as well as inadequacy of public spending have empirically analysed. Additionally, it is noted that a number of health indicators are positively impacted by public spending on health.

The Size of Tax Jurisdiction and Tax Density

Theoretical background: Theory of public finance theory quite widely recognized that the purest indicator of government size is to observe the determinants and trend of level of public spending. It could be easy translates into the statement that following demand of government for money, first satisfied by taxes, enables to conclude, in particular, that the ratio of tax revenues to gross domestic product is the most appropriate indicator of the fiscal efficiency of the tax system. Purpose of the article: The very aim of paper is to determine, on the basis of constructed original taxation density rate, the diversification of the spatial economics of local revenues from taxation of land and developments. The supplementary goal comes from the identification of attributes of tax jurisdiction size shaping density of taxation. In particular, it is undertaken to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference in the rudimentary statistics of the correlation between the size of tax jurisdiction and intensity of land and development taxation measured by brand new index: tax density. Research methods: The research methods, apart from the query and analysis of the literature on the subject, are descriptive statistics of the population of 2,477 communes in Poland in terms of taxation density and the strength of the correlation between taxation density and attributes of tax jurisdiction defined by its size in both fiscal perspective (total tax revenues, tax revenues per capita) and demographic indexes (population, population density). The area of tax jurisdiction is correspondingly discussed. There is also employed OLS method for study correlation between tax density and indexes of tax jurisdiction size. The data are for the fiscal year of 2021. Main findings: Taxation density is, on average, the highest in urban communes, which results from a significant share of land and improvements subject to property tax. In urban communes, the share of real estate tax is on average 98.91% of total revenues from taxation of land and improvements. While in rural communes, where the lowest average level density of taxation has been recorded, the share in question is on average 73.73%. Examination of taxation density statistics for each of three subpopulations of communes (urban ones, urban-rural ones, and rural ones) indicates that in each case statistics of the distribution of tax density is attributed by positive skew and has sharper peak around the mean, but kurtosis is the highest for rural communes. It has been observed that the shapes of the distribution of total tax revenues, tax revenues per capita and population density are most similar to the shape of the distribution of taxation density in rural communes. The crucial conclusion is that the most significance for tax density growth is the increase of population in accordance with population density. The greater tax jurisdiction measured by population the greater intensity of fiscal exploitation of land occurs. Empirics of tax density for Polish communes fails to observe diseconomies of scale according to population density. There is a very parallel structure of elasticity of tax density for different features of tax jurisdiction, excluding for urban tax jurisdiction two attributes: tax revenues per capita (no statistical significant evidence of elasticity) and area (in contrast to another types of communes elasticity is positive).

Impact of Taxes, Transfers, and Subsidies on Income Distribution and Poverty in Argentina

This study evaluates the impact of direct and indirect taxes, as well as public expenditure on transfers (monetary and in-kind, economic subsidies, healthcare, and education), on income distribution and poverty in Argentina. It utilizes a standard fiscal incidence analysis and combines data from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) and the National Household Expenditure Survey (ENGHo). The findings indicate that fiscal policy has been a powerful instrument in reducing inequality and poverty. However, unusually high levels of public spending could potentially render the programs unsustainable.

Remittances and the Size and Composition of Government Spending

Objective. We study the effect of remittances on the size and composition of public spending. Methodology. An optimization technique is used to develop a dynamic theoretical model and a simulation analysis. Results. It is demonstrated that remittances have a positive income effect on public goods, but a negative income effect and a price effect on social transfers, which explains why public goods increase, but social transfers can increase or fall due to changes in the remittances. Recommendations. The model makes recommendations for public policy design by characterizing the optimal level of public spending. Limitations. It is desirable to extend our analysis to consider electoral incentives and thus provide different explanations of how remittances might affect public spending. Originality. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first document that develops a theory to explain the effect of remittances on the size and composition of public spending. Conclusions. Remittances have a differentiated effect on public goods and social transfers depending on the income and price effects that affect the composition of public spending.

Public Spending, Governance, and Mortality Probability in the Indian Subnational: A Two-Level Random Intercept Analysis

ABSTRACT: One of the most fundamental yet unresolved health policy issues is whether public expenditure on healthcare leads to improved health outcomes. Given that health reflects one of the critical aspects of human capital, having implications for economic growth and other development goals, there has been enormous advocacy towards investing significantly in the health systems across the countries to improve the overall health status. However, the effect of public spending on health outcomes remains inconclusive. The present paper analyses the impact of public health spending on mortality probability, taking into account the role of governance while treating public spending as an endogenous variable. The study uses individual level data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) Round 5 and a few state-level characteristics. For estimation purpose, it uses a two-level mixed effect model to capture the benefit incidence of public spending on Individual mortality probability. The findings reveal that public spending has a significant but differential impact on mortality across the Indian States, whereas the quality of governance is found to be a mediator. Given a level of public spending, States with better government effectiveness and rule of law can translate public health spending more effectively in reducing mortality at the individual level. The study also found heterogeneous mortality status across gender, location of stay, wealth status, and age groups with a differential impact of public spending across gender, wealth, and age groups. The variation in average distance of mortality probability level in each state from the overall mean mortality probability indicates that the states are very different in terms of health challenges that they are facing. The policy options call for state-specific health interventions to reduce the mortality rather than one-size-fits-all health policies. There needs to more unconditional grants/transfers from the Union Government to the States so that states will be able to tailor policy responses to address the unique challenges faced by the respective states. At the same time, states need to adopt output-based conditions with greater flexibility to deliver services and greater accountability to improve transparency, governance quality, and implementation capacity.

Institutional quality and public spending in Europe: A quantile regression approach

AbstractWe appraise the effects of institutional quality on public spending for a set of 27 European countries and 18 Euro‐area economies over the 1996–2017 period. While institutions play a weak role in affecting spending once the fixed‐effects model is employed, the application of the quantile regression indicates that improved institutional quality mitigates public spending, although the effects crucially depend on the distribution of public expenditure and the sample examined. For both the Euro‐area sample and the full sample, we show that better quality of institutions reduces public spending, although the effects become less significant the higher the levels of public spending. Further, for the Euro‐area sample, institutions appear to have a stronger role in mitigating public spending. Several robustness tests confirm our findings.

The Equality Hurdle: Resolving the Welfare State Paradox

This article revisits a central tenet of the welfare state paradox, also known as the inclusion-equality trade-off. Using large-scale survey data for 31 European countries and the United States, collected over a recent 15-year period, the article re-investigates the relationship between female labour force participation and gender segregation. Emphasising the transitional role played by the monetisation of domestic tasks, the study identifies a ‘gender equality hurdle’ that countries with the highest levels of female labour force participation have already passed. The results show that occupational gender segregation is currently lower in countries with high female labour force participation, regardless of public sector size. However, the findings also indicate that high relative levels of public spending on health, education and care are particularly conducive to desegregation. Hence, rather than being paradoxical, more equality in participation begets more equality in the labour market, as well as in gendered tasks in society overall.

Heterogenous Effects of Local Government Spending on Mortality Across Racial Groups Among Working-Age Adults in the U.S.

Mortality among working-age adults has been rising, but the underlying reasons are not fully known. Given the relationship between higher levels of public spending and better health outcomes, it is possible that differences in public spending may explain some of this trend. This study examined the association between county government spending and overall and race-specific mortality among working-age adults over time. Hybrid random effects models, which specified separate within- and between-county effects, were used to assess the relationship between per capita county spending and overall and race-specific mortality rates from 1980 to 2019. All models controlled for median age, percentage of the population with at least a bachelor's degree, unemployment rate, and poverty rate. In the overall population, counties with higher k-12 education, library, and police spending were significantly associated with higher mortality rates. Among Black adults, counties with lower corrections spending, lower waste management spending, and higher highway spending had significantly higher Black mortality. Among White adults, counties with lower natural resource spending and higher police spending had higher White mortality. This study showed that differences in public spending may explain the geographic and racial differences in mortality among working-age adults. Local governments should consider public spending as a tool to improve overall population health and address racial health inequalities in their jurisdictions.

INVESTMENTS IN EDUCATION AND THE QUESTION OF GUARANTEEING ITS QUALITY: THE EDUCOLOGICAL ASPECTS

The article is devoted to one of the important components of educology – the economics of education, which studies the demand for education, its financing and provision; as well as the problem of the economic efficiency of investments in people and in the development of human capital. The author investigates budget expenditures in the countries of the world on education, finds out how much of the country’s total budget is spent on education as a whole, including in Ukraine, and also tries to find out whether there is a regularity or relationship between the amount of investment in education and its quality. The article emphasizes that financing education is a priority area in the context of the development strategy of the European Union, because investments in education, vocational training, lifelong learning ensure the development of human capital to increase employment opportunities, active citizenship and social cohesion, in particular, contribute to the fight with marginalization and youth unemployment. The author analyzed a large volume of statistical data on education financing in Europe and Ukraine, revealed general trends of this process and differences. Analysis of statistical European reports by Eurostat and Eurydice in recent years shows that the level of public spending on education in EU member states has hardly changed. However, there are still significant differences between countries in the financing of education. In addition, the author identifies certain disproportions in the financing of education in Ukraine, which affect the final result and the quality of education. The need to optimize the network of higher education institutions in Ukraine and the distribution of state budget expenditures among them, taking into account the results of educational activities, is emphasized.

Public Funding of Education in the Visegrad Group Countries in 2011–2021

Abstract The purpose of the study is to identify the level of public spending on education in the Visegrad Group countries in 2011–2021. The source material was data from the European Statistical Office for Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, collected in accordance with the International Classification of Government Functions (COFOG) based on the European System of National Accounts. As a result of the analysis, it was found that in the above-mentioned countries, in the perspective of 10 years, Poland was the country that allocated the most funds to education, which also translated into the average share of government and local government expenditure in percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011–2021. In the countries of the Visegrad Group, an increase in the level of public spending on education, expressed in million euros, was recorded. In relation to GDP in 2011 and 2021, a downward trend was observed only in Poland (by 0.6 p.p.). Poland is one of the few European Union countries where there was a significant reduction in spending on education. This is an unfavorable phenomenon, as investments in human capital testify to the competitiveness of the state.

Сучасні тенденції фінансування сфери психічного здоров’я у світі

The article is aimed at generalizing and comparing existing approaches to financing mental healthcare, as well as analyzing current trends in this area. The article is an overview and is based on recent research on this topic. The list of relevant articles was formed using content analysis in order to identify key approaches to mental health financing. The article considers the place of financing in the State policy concerning the field of mental health, analyzes the main sources and mechanisms of financing healthcare. The main advantages and disadvantages of basic financing models are considered. The existing financing systems are quite complex, which is influenced by both historical traditions and socio-cultural characteristics of countries, as well as peculiarities of mental illness: they are quite common, require long-term and expensive treatment, which requires interaction between healthcare systems and social support of the population. It is determined that there is no single optimal model for financing mental healthcare, but there are approaches that show better efficiency. For example, the system of pre-accumulation of funds is more efficient than an «out of pocket» paying for services. Also, public financing prevails over private financing in many respects. Most countries are reviewing existing approaches to the functioning and financing of the healthcare system. They move away from providing services based on psychiatric hospitals and transfer them to the level of individual communities, including them in the overall package of medical services. The low median level of public spending on mental health in the world remains a problem (especially in low- and middle-income countries). Prospects for further research are to analyze the current health financing system in Ukraine and the best foreign models that could be used as models for reforming the Ukrainian mental healthcare system.

Expanding capacity for vaccines against Covid-19 and future pandemics: a review of economic issues

AbstractWe review economic arguments for using public policy to accelerate vaccine supply during a pandemic. Rapidly vaccinating a large share of the global population helps avoid economic, mortality, and social losses, which in the case of Covid-19 mounted into trillions of dollars. However, pharmaceutical firms are unlikely to have private incentives to invest in vaccine capacity at the socially optimal scale and speed. The socially optimal level of public spending may cause some sticker shock but—as epitomized by the tagline ‘spending billions to save trillions’—is eclipsed by the benefits and can be restrained with the help of careful policy design and advance preparations. Capacity is so valuable during a pandemic that fractional dosing and other measures to stretch available capacity should be explored.

The Effect of Fiscal Policy on the Economic Growth: An Analytical Study, Evidence from Jordan (2005-2020)

The Jordanian economy faces a set of economic challenges, represented by the rise in unemployment rates, the decline in the rates of gross domestic product, and the rise in the general level of prices, which are the most important indicators of economic development. Jordan is considered one of the developing countries with limited resources, and it depends greatly on tax revenues, grants, and foreign subsidies to cover public expenditures. Because of the importance of fiscal policy to correct the economic path, and Jordan's need for an effective fiscal policy to achieve acceptable economic growth and find successful solutions to address poverty, unemployment, declining investment, adjusting public spending levels, and setting tax rates, this study aimed to examine the impact of fiscal policy tools (Tax Revenue, Domestic Revenue, External Debt, Foreign Grants and Total expenditure), on indicators of economic growth in Jordan (GDP, Inflation, and Unemployment), during the period 2005-2020. The study followed the analytical and descriptive approach using statistical programs through a multiple regression model based on historical quarterly data obtained from the statistical database of the Central Bank of Jordan and the Jordanian Department of Statistics during the study period. The most important findings of the analytical results of the study's hypotheses are a statistically significant effect of fiscal policy tools on GDP, inflation, and unemployment with explanatory power (94%, 97%, and 86.6%). Consecutively. This study contributed to finding a model capable of explaining the impact of public financial policy tools on the most important indicators of development in Jordan, by taking into account most of the financial policy tools, so it is expected that the results of this study will contribute to improving the quality of fiscal policy decisions in Jordan.

Local corruption, total factor productivity and firm heterogeneity: Empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

• A novel dataset to measure local corruption in China that controls for officials’ rank, tenure, investigation reason and corruption latency. • Corruption has a significant negative effect on manufacturing firm TFP, conditional on firm and city heterogeneities. • Publicly owned, export-oriented, profitable, faster growing firms and firms in concentrated industries are less sensitive to corruption. • Firms in cities with higher levels of human capital and public spending on education and scientific research are less sensitive to corruption. • Corruption also hurts private ownership, investment rate, export intensity, innovation, leverage, employment growth, and profitability. This paper examines the effects of local corruption on total factor productivity (TFP) of manufacturing firms in China. The empirical analysis is based on a novel corruption dataset we developed on local corruption in China at various disaggregation levels. The empirical results using fixed effects and instrumental variable estimation methods suggest that corruption has an economically and statistically significant negative effect on firm productivity. The estimated economic cost of corruption is found to be high; a one standard deviation increase in corruption reduces firm TFP by around 3.8%. We also find that firm heterogeneity shapes business reactions to corruption in a given geographical location. Increasing corruption hurts firms less when they are publicly owned, export-oriented, more profitable, have faster growth, or operate in industries with lower levels of competition. We also show that firms in cities with higher levels of human capital and higher levels of public spending on education and scientific research are less sensitive to corruption. As for transmission channels, we find that corruption is likely to hurt TFP through its negative effects on private ownership, investment rate, export intensity, innovation, leverage, employment growth, and profit.

ANALYSIS OF PATTERNS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT ON COMPONENTS OF NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE STATE

As a result of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the activities of many production enterprises were suspended, many specialists lost their jobs, budgets at all levels received an additional burden due to the need for increased financial support for the normal functioning of health care institutions and medical personnel. All these destructive effects, individually and in combination, led to the deterioration of the level of national security of the countries of the world. Since in the scientific literature, national security is usually considered through the prism of social, economic and environmental security (which was confirmed with the help of bibliometric analysis using the Publish or Perish software product), these components of national security were chosen as the object of this study. The main task of the study is to empirically assess the extent of the destructive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the components of the national security of the state and to determine the pre-pandemic and pandemic patterns of their formation. In order to test the main hypothesis of the study about the large-scale destructive impact of the pandemic on the components of the national security of the state, the growth rates of each of the indicators of the quantitative assessment of the corresponding block of the component of the national security of the state in the pre-pandemic period (2019/2000) and the pandemic period (2021/2019) were calculated. This study was conducted for a sample of 7 European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine). The assessment of the growth rate of the collected statistical indicators showed that among the determinants of social security during the outbreak of the pandemic, there was a decrease in the birth rate and life expectancy, an increase in the unemployment rate and mortality. Among the determinants of environmental security during the pandemic period, a decrease in CO2 emissions was recorded among all analyzed countries, except for Ukraine. The growth rates of alternative and nuclear energy and electricity generated from combustible renewable sources became incomparable due to their low relevance and prevalence at the beginning of the 20th century. Among the indicators of economic security, in most of the analyzed countries because of COVID-19 foreign direct investment and the level of public spending on education and military spending have significantly decreased, while the amount of current spending on health care has increased. The obtained empirical results based on the conducted statistical analysis mostly confirmed the hypothesis regarding the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the components of national security. The practical value of the obtained results lies in providing an informational basis for the development of short-, medium- and long-term policies that will pave the way for a strong and sustainable recovery of national security.