Total Government Research Articles

The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Government Revenue in the Extractive Industry in Tanzania

Tanzania has not been unique amid the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of economic impact. Since the first case was announced in March 2020, several thousand cases have been confirmed with several hundred deaths (real-time data). There were a number of transmitting factors and effects that exposed Tanzanian national revenue systems to great economic risk if COVID-19 was not well managed. The paper assesses the level of risks on the total government revenue resource systems, government revenue collections from the extractive industries and national expenditure budget performances. This descriptive paper uses results from the HakiRasilimali field research survey, 2020. The paper found high and increasing levels of negative and perceived risks on the government revenue mobilization, collection and utilization due to the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority perceived that the COVID-19 pandemic has high levels of risks and negative effects on the national budget expenditure frameworks in medium- and long-term periods. In the short run it is not easy to cut down and stop major recurrent government expenditures in developing economies. The public expenditure resources allocated to the Ministry of Minerals have been increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic to support the on-going mining reforms in Tanzania. Also, the government was compelled to allocate more financial resources to the health sector in order to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath, as well as support other most affected sectors. The paper recommends that the best way of preventing and combating the COVID-19 risks and related public health threats or possibilities is to protect and give capacity to socio-economic entities, sectors and actors’ abilities in achieving their desired short-, medium- and long-term objectives. To support a robust health and economic policy response, Tanzania has in its potential fiscal space relative to other East African countries, stable political environment, high international reserves, larger domestic market and favorable mineral commodity price movements. Tanzania has enhanced political preparedness and containment capacity through measures to strengthen detection, surveillance and combating the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Trends in medicare spending across strata of resource utilization among older individuals in the United States.

BackgroundHealth care spending is an increasing proportion of government expenditures in most Western countries. How this growth is distributed between individuals with minimal compared to high health care utilization is unknown.MethodsWe examined total and per-capita government expenditure in an observational cohort of fee-for-service U.S. Medicare enrollees aged ≥65 years from 2007 to 2018. We categorized patients into annual resource utilization strata. We examined annualized changes in adjusted spending across resource utilization strata and the distribution of spending within and across strata for a variety of health care settings.FindingsExamining 314,593,489 beneficiary-years of coverage, the top 1% of beneficiaries accounted for 14.9% of all expenditures, the top 5% for 41.5%, the top 10% for 60.0%, the top 20% for 79.1%, and the top 50% for 95.7%. Annual expenditures remained relatively stable from 2007 to 2018, with annual mean change of 0.7% (standard deviation 1.1%; median 1.1%) and mean per capita change of 0.4% (standard deviation 1·6%; median 0·3%). Changes were similar across strata with mean increases <1% in all, save for the <50th percentile strata (mean annual growth=1·9%), a significant difference (p = 0.0002). The overall distribution of expenditures across health care settings remained consistent over time, with different distributions between expenditure strata.InterpretationIn the U.S. from 2007 to 2018, Medicare spending has a Pareto distribution in which 80% of the costs are attributable to 20% of beneficiaries. Despite low overall Medicare spending growth from 2007 to 2018, growth has been greatest among those in the lowest spending group.FundingThe Commonwealth Fund (20,202,411).

Impact of Bank Deposit on Manufacturing Sector Output: The Case of Nigeria

Manufacturing sector plays an important role in the development of modern economy all over the world, whether advance or developing country. In the light of this, this study investigated the impact of bank credit on manufacturing outputfor the period 1981-2019. The variables were tested for stationarity. Error correction mechanism was adopted for the estimation of the model. Based on the result of the study, it was observed that credit to the manufacturing output has direct relationship with manufacturing output and it is statistically significant. Total government expenditure has direct relationship with manufacturing output, but not statistically significant. The relationship between exchange rate and corruption on output of manufacturing were Binverse and were not statistically significant. The most important variable affecting output of manufacturing sector is credit to the manufacturing. Manufacturing output in Nigeria does not significantly respond to changes in interest rate and government expenditure. The study concluded that credit to the manufacturing output is significant to the growth of manufacturing sector output in Nigeria economy. The paper recommended a better and stronger credit facility to manufacturing sector, should be promoted and sustained; there should be strong and comprehensive legal framework that will continue to aid in monitoring the performance of credit of the commercial banks. The most important variable affecting manufacturing output is credit to the manufacturing sector; effort should be made towards encouraging more credit to the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.

The effects of government spending shocks on income distribution in South Africa

PurposeThe main aim of this study is to examine the effect of government spending and its components' shocks on the distribution of income between labour and capital in South Africa for the period between 1994Q2 and 2019Q3.Design/methodology/approachThe effects of government spending shocks on income distribution are analysed using Jordà's (2005) local projection method. The shocks, however, are identified by applying short-run contemporaneous restrictions in a vector autoregressive model based on Cholesky identification scheme.FindingsThe results indicate that government spending shock has a positive and significant effect on labour share after the first quarter. This means that expansionary government spending has a paramount role in reducing income inequality in the economy. Both government investment and government consumption shocks have also contributed to a reduction in income inequality, though the magnitude effect is smaller for government consumption.Originality/valueResearch findings on the effects of government spending shock on income inequality are still inconclusive. Therefore, this research examines the effect of total government spending shock along with its components on labour income share for the South African economy.

The effect of public expenditures on economic growth of Kosovo: An econometric analysis

Public spending as an important component of the composition of GDP has an impact on economic growth and development. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of disaggregated public expenditures, to measure the impact of current expenditures, transfers and subsidies, and capital expenditures as part of total government expenditures on economic growth and development of the Republic of Kosovo. To achieve the main goal of the paper was used the multiple linear regression model (OLS) and Pearson. The regression model has been modified and adapted to measure the regression of public spending on economic growth in Kosovo. The data used in the paper are secondary and collected from the Ministry of Finance of Kosovo, Agency of Statistics, and the Tax Administration of Kosovo. Data processing was done with SPSS. The results of the analysis show that the trend of Kosovo public spending for the analyzed period is increasing. According to Pearson correlation analysis, the results show that current public spending; transfers, and subsidies have a strong positive correlation to Gross Domestic Product. Whereas capital (investment) expenditures have a weaker positive correlation with GDP. The results of OLS regression, in our case, did not show the significance of independent variables, which means that the pubic expenses do not have an impact on economic growth in Kosovo.

Modelling the trends of the healthcare funding in the EU countries

Healthcare is one of the most important sectors of the public economy in the EU countries. An important task in the analysis and prediction of the values for healthcare funding is the development and application of quantitative models based on different mathematical methods. Three of the most popular indicators used for the macroeconomic description of the funding of healthcare are: (1) total government expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP; (2) total government expenditure on health as a percentage of total general government expenditure; and (3) total government expenditure on health per capita. The aim of this research is to study the trends for the main indicators of healthcare funding on the macroeconomic level and to develop models based on time series methods for analysis of the features of the trends and the prediction of the values for the next time period.

Asymmetric effects of oil revenue on government expenditure: insights from oil‐exporting developing countries

AbstractThis study was aimed at investigating the asymmetric effect of oil revenue on government expenditures in developing oil‐exporting countries, as most previous studies on the subject had presumed a symmetric oil revenue–government expenditure nexus. Thus, a non‐linear panel ARDL was employed to determine how government expenditures respond to positive and negative shocks to oil revenue. Regression estimates indicated that both total and health government expenditures respond asymmetrically to positive and negative changes in oil revenue in the long run, while the responses are symmetric in the short run. The results bespeak the limitation in modelling long‐run oil revenue–government expenditure nexus models symmetrically and the need to consider asymmetry when modelling the relationship between the two variables. The findings also bring to the fore the need for developing oil‐exporting countries to diversify their economies in order to extend their revenue sources, as such would greatly reduce the susceptibility of government expenditure, especially health expenditure to oil revenue busts. Furthermore, stabilisation funds from oil revenue booms if used and properly managed can help to moderate the negative impact of oil revenue busts in these countries.

Mortality versus Municipal and State Government Spending in American Cities.

The USA leads the world in healthcare spending but trails dozens of countries in life expectancy. Government spending may reduce overall mortality by redistributing resources from the rich to the poor. We linked mortality data from 2006 to 2015 to municipal and state government spending in 149 of the largest American cities. We modeled the association of mortality with city and state government spending per capita in 2005 using weighted linear regression. A 10% increase in state government expenditures was associated (P = 0.008) with a 1.4% (95%CI: 0.4-2.4%) reduction in mortality in American cities. Total city government expenditures were not associated with mortality (P > 0.10). However, among Whites, increases in city government spending were associated with a reduction in mortality of 4.8% (2.1-7.5%), but among Blacks and Asians, increased city government spending was associated with respective mortality increases of 1.7% (0.6-2.9%) and 5.1% (2.1-6.2%). State government spending is associated with reduced mortality in American cities. City government spending appears to benefit White longevity and hurt non-White longevity.

How Do Pandemics Affect Government Expenditures?

Based on a sample of panel data for 14 countries spanning the period 2000-2018, this paper investigates the effect of pandemics on government expenditure and public health expenditure. The empirical results show that pandemics lead to an increase in government health expenditure, but the positive effect on total government expenditure may not be statistically significant.

Long-run and short-run responses of agricultural sector growth to its determinants in Nigeria

The study examined the long-run and short-run responses of agricultural sector growth to its determinants in Nigeria using time series data (1981 2015). Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) method was employed in the analysis of the data. Jarque-Bera Normality Test, Breusch-Godfrey serial correlation LM test, Engle Granger 2-Step Test for Co-Integration and CUSUM of Squares Test were used to test for normality, serial correlation and structural dynamic stability of the data. The trend of agricultural sector growth revealed that sustained growth of the sector has been experienced since 2001 up till 2015. The results revealed that agricultural sector growth was positively and significantly influenced by capital expenditure in the sector, which was proxy by Total Government Agricultural Expenditure (TGAE), in the long-run; while in the short-run, the sector growth was positively and significantly influenced by labour employment. It is therefore recommended that for sustained agricultural sector growth and development in the country, increased capital expenditure in the sector should be pursued with sustained vigour. Since agriculture sector shows immediate and significant response to employment, it should be made attractive to youth employment by provision of incentive. This would ensure dual gain of tackling unemployment problem in the country and ensure agricultural sector growth.

DGE Model for Assessing Macro-Fiscal Vulnerabilities in Algeria

In this paper, we present a Dynamic General Equilibrium (DGE) model to address the macro-fiscal vulnerabilities and the effects of fiscal policy on growth and employment in Algeria. We first discuss a baseline scenario throughout the projection period, 2021-2040 and then conduct several experiments; an increase in the efficiency of public spending on infrastructure investment, a gradual reduction in the share of non-interest government spending in GDP, the same gradual reduction in spending with a permanent increase in the share of investment in infrastructure in total noninterest government expenditure, and a composite fiscal reform program, respectively. The results show that with a well-designed fiscal program, there may be no trade-off between fiscal consolidation and economic growth.

Health service use and health system costs associated with diabetes during pregnancy in Australia

Background and aimsIn the context of the rising rate of diabetes in pregnancy in Australia, this study aims to examine the health service and resource use associated with diabetes during pregnancy. Methods and resultsThis project utilised a linked administrative dataset containing health and cost data for all mothers who gave birth in Queensland, Australia between 2012 and 2015 (n = 186,789, plus their babies, n = 189,909).The association between maternal characteristics and diabetes status were compared with chi-square analyses. Multiple logistic regression produced the odds ratio of having different outcomes for women who had diabetes compared to women who did not. A two-sample t-test compared the mean number of health services accessed. Generalised linear regression produced the mean costs associated with health service use.Mothers who had diabetes during pregnancy were more likely to have their labour induced at <38 weeks gestation (OR:1.39, 95% CI:1.29–1.50); have a cesarean section (OR: 1.26, 95% CI:1.22–1.31); have a preterm birth (OR:1.24, 95%: 1.18–1.32); have their baby admitted to a Special Care Nursery (OR: 2.34, 95% CI:2.26–2.43) and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (OR:1.25, 95%CI: 1.14–1.37). On average, mothers with diabetes access health services on more occasions during pregnancy (54.4) compared to mothers without (50.5).Total government expenditure on mothers with diabetes over the first 1000 days of the perinatal journey was significantly higher than in mothers without diabetes ($12,757 and $11,332). ConclusionOverall, mothers that have diabetes in pregnancy require greater health care and resource use than mothers without diabetes in pregnancy.

The Service Sector-Led Growth Relationship: The Case of Nigeria

This paper examined the impact of the service sector on economic growth of Nigeria. The study covers the period 1981 to 2019 and data were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root, Granger Causality test, Vector Autoregressive (VAR) approach, Bounds test for cointegration, and vector error correction mechanism were utilized in analysing the data. Findings of the study revealed that a bidirectional causality exist between service sector and economic growth of Nigeria. Meanwhile, the VAR result presented an evidence of weak exogeneity of the service sector in predicting economic growth. However, both broad money supply and total government expenditure exerted a significant impact on economic growth. From the impulse response function, it was discovered that economic growth responded negatively to shocks in service sector output both in the short run and in the long run; while the variance decomposition indicated that gross domestic product (a proxy for economic growth) is strongly endogenous in predicting itself in the short run while such diminishes in the long run. The Bounds test for cointegration revealed evidence of long run equilibrium relationship and the error correction mechanism revealed that 88.30% of the short run disequilibrium in the gross domestic product are corrected annually. Meanwhile, it was discovered that professional, scientific and technical services is the major contributor to economic growth as captured by its short run and long run elasticity coefficients of 0.5936 and 0.9455 respectively. The paper recommended the need for stimulating industrialization as this is the major pathway through which the service sector can positively impact economic growth.

Country size\xa0bias in global health: cross-country comparison of\xa0malaria policy and foreign aid

BackgroundForeign aid has been shown to be favourably biased towards small countries. This study investigated whether country size bias also occurs in national malaria policy and development assistance from international agencies.MethodsData from publicly available sources were collected with countries as observational units. The exploratory data analysis was based on the conceptual framework with socio-economic, environmental and institutional parameters. The strength of relationships was estimated by the Pearson and polychoric correlation coefficients. The correlation matrix was explored by factor analysis.ResultsMalaria burden is strongly correlated with GDP per capita, total health expenditure per capita, HDI; moderately with latitude, weakly with elevation, urban population share, per capita funding from the Global Fund, PMI USAID, UK government and UNICEF. Small country status is strongly correlated with population size, land area, island status; moderately with development assistance received per capita, weakly with funding per capita from Global Fund, government NMP and PMI USAID. Policy score 1, a variable derived from our factor analysis and related to malaria endemicity, is significantly strongly correlated with the malaria burden, moderately with HDI, GDP per capita, total health expenditure per capita, PMI USAID funding; weakly with island status, urban population share, latitude, coastal population share, total government expenditure and trade openness, Global Fund funding, World Bank funding, UK government funding, and UNICEF funding per capita. Policy score 2, which captures variation not related to malaria endemicity, is significantly weakly related to the ICRG index, PMI USAID funding per capita and small country status.ConclusionsThe results suggest that malaria burden and economic development are bidirectionally related. Economic development can contribute to a reduction in the malaria burden. Country size does not negatively impact malaria burden, but it does account for greater development assistance per capita from selected international agencies. National malaria policy is associated with parameters related to public governance and is modified in small countries. Small country bias is present in the distribution of socio-economic resources and the allocation of foreign aid. Small countries are characterized by distinct environmental and socio-political properties.

Population Aging, Health Investment and Economic Growth: Based on a Cross-Country Panel Data Analysis.

With the economic development of various countries and the deepening of population aging, health plays an increasingly important role in the macro-economy. How to meet the growing health needs as well as promote the economy has captured the attention of the world. Therefore, whether health investment can promote economic growth is an important theoretical and practical issue. An extended Mankiw–Romer–Weil model (MRW) with human health capital and population aging is employed to examine the impact on economic growth from population aging and health investment. On the basis of the theoretical model, this paper uses the LSDV and TSLS methods to carry out an empirical study based on cross-country panel data during the period 2000–2016. The empirical results show that health investment plays a significant role in promoting economic growth, and there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between population aging and economic growth. The impacts on economic growth from health investment and population aging can weaken each other. In addition, this paper also finds that health investment structure and the proportion of government health investment to total government spending can affect economic growth.

Oil bonanza and the composition of government expenditure

Government behavior can be affected by natural resource benefits. Benevolent government and political leaders may use them to improve the welfare of the people, whereas others may use them for their own interests. To examine the effects of oil bonanza on government behavior comprehensively, this study investigates how giant oilfield discoveries affect the size and composition of government expenditure using data from 168 countries between 1972 and 2008. We find weak evidence that giant oilfield discoveries increase total government expenditure significantly in the medium and long term, whereas their effects are more evident in the short term, especially when controlling for other factors affecting total government expenditure. We also obtain evidence that democracy plays a mediating role in these effects; if the democracy level in a country is consolidated, the size of total government spending does not increase even when discovering giant oilfields. Considering each category of government expenditure, giant oilfield discoveries increase expenditure on health and social protection significantly, whereas they decrease educational expenditure. Furthermore, giant oilfield discoveries decrease expenditure on economic affairs and defense and increase general public services and public order and safety. Finally, giant oilfield discoveries increase the net implicit gasoline subsidy in the long term. These findings enhance our understanding of the effects of oil bonanza on government behavior.

The Progress of Sustainable Management of Ammonia Emissions from Agriculture in European Union States Including Poland—Variation, Trends, and Economic Conditions

Ammonia (NH3) is one of the gases adversely affecting the natural environment. The greatest contributor to emissions of this gas to the atmosphere is agricultural activity. The main objective of the study was to assess the progress of sustainable management of ammonia emissions from agriculture in European Union countries. The specific objectives of the article were the following: to analyse and diagnose the level of ammonia emissions from agriculture, to study the diversity of emissions of this gas between countries, to analyse trends in the years 2010–2017 and, above all, to assess the relationship between the level of ammonia emissions from agriculture and the economic conditions of EU countries. The theoretical part of the article describes the causes and effects of, as well as preventive actions against, ammonia emissions from agriculture, whereas the empirical part analyses the problems, trends, variations, and the impact of economic conditions on emissions of this gas in 2010–2017. To evaluate the range of problems discussed, indicators describing ammonia emission levels Y01A and Y01B, as well as indicators characterising economic conditions X01, X02, and X03 have been employed. During the study, the following indicators were analysed: ammonia emissions from agriculture in kilograms per hectare (Y01A), ammonia emissions from agriculture—percentage of total emissions (Y01B), government appropriations or outlays on research and development in agriculture in EUR per capita (X01), agricultural factor income in EUR per annual work unit (AWU) (X02), and real GDP in EUR per capita (X03). The source for the empirical data was information from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). The analysis covered 28 states of the European Union. In the article, among others, the rate of change indices, coefficients of variation (Vs), measures of distance (D) and range (R), coefficients of asymmetry (A) and kurtosis (K) were calculated, and correlation and regression analysis were performed. The share of agriculture in total ammonia emissions in European Union countries is very high and averages as high as 92%. Most of the countries maintain an upward tendency; a disturbing fact, considering such high ammonia emissions from agriculture. Based on the present analysis, it has also been confirmed that countries with the relatively highest levels of economy and agricultural research and development funding in fact emit more and increasingly more ammonia from agriculture. To avoid the intensification of the adverse effects of this phenomenon, all EU Member States should take effective, efficient, and sustained action to reduce ammonia emission levels.

Sustainability of gaushalas: Do size and patronage matter?

To be viable as an institution in the long term, gaushalas (cow shelters) must meet the needs of society by operating continually and sustainably. This study of 21 gaushalas in Haryana finds that donations constitute 74.19% of their total receipts and government grants 6.47%; sales generate only 20%. Sustainability is poor; to improve it, gaushalas should be made autonomous by increasing their sources of income from processing the by-products, distributing indigenous germplasm and products, and catering to social needs. The government promotes gaushalas, but grants should be based on standard animal units and distributed regularly.

Der faustische Pakt. Goethe und die Goethe-Gesellschaft im Dritten Reich by W. Daniel Wilson

Reviewed by: Der faustische Pakt. Goethe und die Goethe-Gesellschaft im Dritten Reich by W. Daniel Wilson Katherine Arens W. Daniel Wilson. Der faustische Pakt. Goethe und die Goethe-Gesellschaft im Dritten Reich. Munich: dtv, 2018. 368 pp. Daniel Wilson, now a professor emeritus in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the Royal Holloway College at the University of London, has again opened up the Goethe industry to new insights, after his earlier works that have taken the author out of the cotton wool in which the notion of "Weimar classicism" had wrapped him. Der faustische Pakt turns our attention to the Goethe-Gesellschaft (Goethe Society), founded in 1885, to show how its claimed affinities to the humanism disguised a long-standing commitment to conservative nationalist views and an alignment with the Nazi regime—to creating a Goethe who would ultimately become commensurate with Nazi ideology and cultural imperatives. Wilson adduces facts drawn from many archives to produce a well-researched and superbly written story of cultural opportunism that illuminates the many shades of grey in the cultural politics of the Nazi era, and how their legacies remain at play today. Most critically, he has filled in precise details about the post-May-1933 organization of the society, which have been vague since 1945 when its organizational files disappeared. Wilson found instead the correspondence of the leadership to tell an increasingly disturbing story of scholarly humanism. The alignment of the Goethe Society with the Nazi cultural projects started slow. From its early years on, the Goethe Society had been an important cultural reference point for the Bildungsbürgertum, the educated population of Germany. Gustav Roethe, the society's president until 1926, worked toward establishing Goethe as an internationalist and moved to consolidate individual local author societies under the national organization. Receiving no state support, the society boasted a considerable membership as well as patronage by the ruling aristocracy. As the Weimar Republic's financial crises led to declining memberships, reimaging Goethe as an antisemite made him a potential asset for Nazi cultural politics. The Nazi government had begun to intervene in organizations after 1933 in its move toward a kind of cultural Gleichschaltung; the Goethe Society was vulnerable initially to charges of liberalism because 8 percent of its members were Jewish and 20 percent international, with the result that after 1933 the society did not admit any new Jewish members (keeping many that they had for financial reasons until a 1938 general exclusion). "Jewish" themes like Goethe's interest in Spinoza were kept out of the society's journal; Roethe's cosmopolitan and tolerant Goethe was refigured as an antisemite, with skirmishes at both local and national levels of the organization. By the 1936 Olympics, new funding became possible as part of Germany's image building—and the society found its lifeline in ways effaced or denied after the war. In the volume's first chapter, "Goethes Janusgesicht," Wilson draws out how these two possible readings of the author were crafted out of a body of work large enough to find support for both readings. The subsequent six chapters are [End Page 390] organized chronologically to chart this course in detail; they are solidly documented, based on the private correspondence of important members of the society's leadership and internal records of the society's business and meetings. What emerges is the society's sense of dedication to its cultural mission under a pronounced sense of threat, leading to decision-making that prioritized the society's survival at all costs. The prime mover in this preemptive decision-making was Hans Wahl, the vice president of the society and director of the National Goethe Museum, who became a party member in 1938 and an early member of the "Kampfbundes für deutsche Kultur," which put the organization under the patronage (but not direct control) of Joseph Goebbels and his Reichsschrifttumskammer and helped it to evade the total government takeovers that were becoming increasingly common and that often required wholesale surrender of archives and museum holdings. Instead, the Goethe Society preserved itself as it fell into a kind of codetermination and collaboration with government institutions. These decisions, however, created a...

Analysis of the Russian Human Capital Index

The article considers the issue of the Russian economy reaching development limit, what actualizes the need to analyze the human capital index dynamics. The study of the human capital index components dynamics revealed a special priority of state policy. Analysis of the Russian educational system development revealed its feminization, which changes the principles of the modern society formation. A negative change in the Russian educational system was observed in the form of a significant decline in the growth of preschool youth of junior median age and preschool children of younger age, a significant gap in the growth rate of government spending on education (% of GDP) to spending on education as a percentage of total government spending. In general, the priority of state policy to ensure the survival of male children under 5 years of age and subsequent indifference to their socialization in the Russian educational system with clear signs of feminization escalate the problem of gender bias risk. The Russian economy development, based on the increment of surplus value in the process of exploitation of unskilled labor and the level of wages insufficient for natural reproduction of the latter, has reached its limit.