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Public Spending (public + spending)
Selected AbstractsIs There a Place for Virtual Poverty Funds in Pro-Poor Public Spending Reform?DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2003Lessons from Uganda's PAF Various developing countries with weak public expenditure management systems are establishing virtual poverty funds (VPFs), drawing on the experience of Uganda's Poverty Action Fund. As a mechanism for tagging and tracking the performance of specific poverty-reducing expenditures in the budget, a VPF can be useful. However, this article argues that such devices should be treated from the outset as transitional, and as part of wider processes of strengthening public expenditure management; otherwise, they can seriously distort public expenditure allocations and management systems, potentially undermining growth. Emphasis needs to be placed on identifying the right balance of expenditures in the entire budget; improving the effectiveness and efficiency of existing allocations; and developing better public-sector policies for promoting pro-poor private sector growth. [source] CONSUMING CLASS: Multilevel Marketers in Neoliberal MexicoCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2008PETER S. CAHN ABSTRACT Since the 1980s, Mexican leaders have followed other Latin American countries in pursuing neoliberal economic policies designed to stimulate foreign investment, reduce public spending, and promote free trade. Recent studies of indigenous movements and popular protests challenge the idea that these market-based economic reforms enjoy a broad consensus and suggest that elites impose them by force. By turning the focus to middle-class Mexicans, I argue that some nonelite sectors of society avidly welcome the reign of the free market. Although they do not profit directly from unregulated capitalism, the middle class looks to neoliberalism to ensure access to the material markers of class status. The rising popularity of multilevel marketing companies in Mexico, which glorify consumption and celebrate the possibilities of entrepreneurship, demonstrates the appeal of neoliberalism to citizens fearful of diminished purchasing power. By tying consumption to globalized free markets, neoliberalism does not need coercion to win acceptance. [source] Uganda: No More Pro-poor Growth?DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2005Robert Kappel This article explores changing growth regimes in Uganda, from pro-poor growth in the 1990s to growth without poverty reduction, actually even with a slight increase in poverty, after 2000. Not surprisingly, it finds that good agricultural performance is the key determinant of direct pro-poor growth in the 1990s, while lower agricultural growth is the root cause of the recent increase in poverty. At the same time, after 2000 low agricultural growth appears to have induced important employment shifts out of agriculture, which have dampened the increase in poverty. The article also assesses the indirect form of pro-poor growth by analysing the incidence of public spending and the tax system, and finds that indirect pro-poor growth has been achieved to only a limited extent. [source] Long-Term Effects of Fiscal Policy on the Size and Distribution of the Pie in the UK,FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2008Xavier Ramos C5; E6; H3 Abstract. This paper provides a joint analysis of the output and distributional long-term effects of various fiscal policies in the UK, using a vector autoregression (VAR) approach. Our findings suggest that the long-term impact on GDP of increasing public spending and taxes is negative, and especially strong in the case of current expenditure. We also find significant distributional effects associated with fiscal policies, indicating that an increase in public spending reduces inequality while a rise in indirect taxes increases income inequality. [source] "Grabbing Hand" or "Helping Hand"?: Corruption and the Economic Role of the StateGOVERNANCE, Issue 2 2007JONATHAN HOPKIN This article seeks to disentangle which features of government intervention are linked to corruption and which are not, by distinguishing between the government roles of regulator, entrepreneur, and consumer. It finds that the degree of regulation of private business activity is the strongest predictor of corruption, and that high levels of public spending are related to low levels of corruption. There is no evidence of direct government involvement in production having any bearing on corruption. It is concluded that advanced welfare capitalist systems, which leave business relatively free from interference while intervening strongly in the distribution of wealth and the provision of key services, combine the most "virtuous" features of "big" and "small" government. This suggests that anti-corruption campaigners should be relaxed about state intervention in the economy in general, but should specifically target corruption-inducing regulatory systems. [source] Redistribution or horizontal equity in Hong Kong's mixed public,private health system: a policy conundrumHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2009Gabriel M. Leung Abstract We examine the distributional characteristics of Hong Kong's mixed public,private health system to identify the net redistribution achieved through public spending on health care, compare the income-related inequality and inequity of public and private care and measure horizontal inequity in health-care delivery overall. Payments for public care are highly concentrated on the better-off whereas benefits are pro-poor. As a consequence, public health care effects significant net redistribution from the rich to the poor. Public care is skewed towards the poor in part not only because of allocation according to need but also because the rich opt out of the public sector and consume most of the private care. Overall, there is horizontal inequity favouring the rich in general outpatient care and (very marginally) inpatient care. Pro-rich bias in the distribution of private care outweighs the pro-poor bias of public care. A lesser role for private finance may improve horizontal equity of utilisation but would also reduce the degree of net redistribution through the public sector. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Sometimes more equal than others: how health inequalities depend on the choice of welfare indicatorHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2006Magnus Lindelow Abstract In recent years, a large body of empirical work has focused on measuring and explaining socio-economic inequalities in health outcomes and health service use. In any effort to address these questions, analysts must confront the issue of how to measure socioeconomic status. In developing countries, socioeconomic status has typically been measured by per capita consumption or an asset index. Currently, there is only limited information on how the choice of welfare indicators affect the analysis of health inequalities and the incidence of public spending. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the potential sensitivity of the analysis of health related inequalities to how socioeconomic status is measured. Using data from Mozambique, the paper focuses on five key health service indicators, and tests whether measured inequality (concentration index) in health service utilization differs depending on the choice of welfare indicator. The paper shows that, at least in some contexts, the choice of welfare indicator can have a large and significant impact on measured inequality in utilization of health services. In consequence, we can reach very different conclusions about the ,same' issue depending on how we define socioeconomic status. The paper also provides some tentative conclusions about why and in what contexts health inequalities can be sensitive to the choice of living standards measure. The results call for more clarity and care in the analysis of health related inequalities, and for explicit recognition of the potential sensitivity of findings to the choice of welfare measure. The results also point at the need for more careful research on how different dimensions of SES are related, and on the pathways by which the respective different dimensions impact on health related variables. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Optimising the policy cost of market stabilisation: Which commodity matters most in Ethiopia?JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2009Kindie Getnet Abstract Unprecedented food crop price spikes in recent years prompted the Ethiopian government to impose grain export ban and to distribute grain stocks as price stabilization strategies. Successful price stabilization and size of public spending for such programs depend, to a large extent, on the choice and targeting of stabilization strategies. In a situation where a single commodity plays a leadership role in the price dynamics of other crops, targeting intervention at such a commodity would provide a useful mechanism to reduce policy cost of price stabilization while achieving commodity-wide stabilization objectives. Using multiple cointegration analysis techniques to generate knowledge useful in targeting price stabilization intervention, this study investigates whether there is a single food crop in Ethiopia, among the three major ones (teff, wheat, and maize), with an exclusive price leadership role in the price formation process of the rest. The results show that maize price plays a leadership role in the dynamics of teff and wheat prices at all markets studied, except that of Addis Ababa teff market. Given the major evidence of a price leadership role of maize, it might be possible to achieve commodity-wide price stabilization objectives through targeting intervention on maize. Such targeted intervention may also prove efficiency in terms of reducing policy cost and public spending. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The benefit,incidence of public spending: the Caribbean experienceJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2006John Gafar This paper shows that public spending on basic services, to wit, primary and secondary education and basic health care benefit the poor; while the non-poor are the principal beneficiaries of tertiary and education subsidies and hospital spending. The evidence also shows that expenditures on infrastructure spending in the Caribbean benefit the non-poor disproportionately more than the poor. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Aid, public spending and human welfare: evidence from quantile regressionsJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2005Karuna Gomanee Does aid contribute to human development other than by increasing growth? In doing so, is aid more or less effective in poorer countries (those with low levels of aggregate welfare)? This paper addresses these issues, assessing if there is cross-country aggregate evidence for an effect of aid on welfare levels. We posit that aid can enhance human development by financing public expenditures that increase welfare indicators. Using quantile regressions, we report evidence that aid is associated with higher human development (the Human Development Index) and lower infant mortality (both indicators of aggregate welfare). Where there are differences across quantiles, aid is more effective in countries below the median of the welfare distribution, i.e. with lower levels of human development. Insofar as aggregate welfare is (inversely) correlated with poverty, we find evidence that aid can make a positive contribution to alleviating poverty, and that the effect appears to be greater in countries with lower levels of human development indicators. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] More on the effectiveness of public spending on health care and education: a covariance structure modelJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2003Emanuele Baldacci Using data for a sample of developing countries and transition economies, this paper estimates the relationship between government spending on health care and education and selected social indicators. Unlike previous studies, where social indicators are used as proxies for the unobservable health and education status of the population, this paper estimates a latent variable model. The findings suggest that public spending is an important determinant of social outcomes, particularly in the education sector. Overall, the latent variable approach yields better estimates of a social production function than the traditional approach, with higher elasticities of social indicators with respect to income and spending, therefore providing stronger evidence that increases in public spending do have a positive impact on social outcomes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Infrastructure Investment and Maintenance Expenditure: Optimal Allocation Rules in a Growing EconomyJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 2 2009PIERRE-RICHARD AGÉNOR This paper studies the allocation of public expenditure between infrastructure investment and maintenance in an endogenous growth framework. In the basic model, maintenance spending affects both the durability and efficiency of public capital. The balanced growth path is derived and transitional dynamics associated with a revenue-neutral increase in expenditure on maintenance are analyzed. The model is then extended to account for the possibility that public spending on maintenance affects also the durability of private capital. The growth-maximizing tax rate and share of infrastructure investment are calculated in both cases. First- and second-best welfare-maximizing solutions are also discussed. [source] PUBLIC DEBT AS PRIVATE WEALTH: SOME EQUILIBRIUM CONSIDERATIONSMETROECONOMICA, Issue 4 2006Article first published online: 13 NOV 200, Ekkehart Schlicht ABSTRACT Government bonds are interest-bearing assets. Increasing public debt increases wealth, income and consumption demand. The smaller government expenditure is, the larger consumption demand must be in equilibrium, and the larger must be public debt. Conversely, lower public debt implies higher government spending and taxation. Public debt plays, thus, an important role in establishing equilibrium. It distributes output between consumers and government. In case of insufficient demand, a larger public debt entails higher private consumption and less public spending. If upper bounds on public debt are introduced (as in the Maastricht treaty), such constraints place lower bounds on taxation and public spending and may rule out macroeconomic equilibrium. As an aside, a minor flaw in Domar's (American Economic Review, 34 (4), pp. 798,827) classical analysis is corrected. [source] Devolution, equity and the English question,NATIONS AND NATIONALISM, Issue 4 2008CHRISTOPHER G. A. BRYANT ABSTRACT. Following devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, does England need a stronger political voice and/or constitutional changes to safeguard its identity and interests? (the ,English question'). Polling and other evidence suggests that it does, albeit more to redress inequities associated with voting in parliament (the ,West Lothian question') and the distribution of public spending (the ,Barnett formula') than to safeguard its identity. Although campaigners for English devolution have had little impact, and alternative institutional responses to the English question are all problematic, it would be imprudent of the major parties to do nothing. The least difficult course would be adoption of English votes on English matters and reform or replacement of the Barnett formula. [source] Population Ageing and Social Expenditure in New ZealandTHE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2005John Creedy As the population ages there will be potentially significant implications for a wide range of economic variables, including in particular the fiscal costs of social expenditures. Long-term fiscal planning requires estimates of the possible future path of public spending. This article presents projections for 14 categories of social spending. These projections are based on detailed demographic estimates covering fertility, migration and mortality. Distributional parameters are incorporated for all of the major variables, and are used to build up probabilistic projections for social expenditure as a share of gross domestic product using simulation. Attention is focused on health expenditures which are disaggregated into seven broad classes. In addition, we explore the impacts of alternative hypotheses about future health costs. While it can be predicted with some confidence that overall social expenditures will rise, the results suggest that long-term planning would be enriched by recognising the distributions around point estimates of projected social costs. [source] | |||||||||||||