Social Spending and Aggregate Welfare in Developing and Transition Economies

Notwithstanding the unprecedented attention devoted to reducing poverty and fostering human development via scaling up social sector spending, there is surprisingly little rigorous empirical work on the question of whether social spending is effective in achieving these goals. This paper examines the impact of government spending on the social sectors (health, education, and social protection) on two major indicators of aggregate welfare (the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index and child mortality), using a panel dataset comprising 55 developing and transition countries from 1990 to 2009. We find that government social spending has a significantly positive causal effect on the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, while government expenditure on health has a significant negative impact on child mortality rate. These results are fairly robust to the method of estimation, the use of alternative instruments to control for the endogeneity of social spending, the set of control variables included in the regressions, and the use of alternative samples

Dihydrothiophenes containing quaternary stereogenic centres by sequential stereospecific rearrangements and ring-closing metathesis

Tandem stereospecific rearrangements by [3,3]-sigmatropic shift and N to C aryl migration give tertiary thiols that undergo ring closing metathesis to dihydrothiophenes.</p

Éducation et répartition: actes de la Table Ronde Internationale, Dijon, 5-6 juin 1975

International audienc

Economic Slowdown and Education Recession in Latin America

SUMMARY This article argues that although under a normal economic environment the allocation of resources to education may not be influenced by economic conditions, a deterioration in such conditions, like the recent world recession, does adversely influence educational development. It is further argued that under worsening economic conditions, primary education suffers more than higher education, and that popular socio?political pressures result in the quality of education being traded off for quantitative expansion. Evidence on Latin America and the Caribbean region is presented in support of these arguments. Resume II ANALYSES GENERALES, REGIONALES ET SECTORIELLES Ralentissement économique et recession dans le domaine de l'éducation en Amérique Latine Cet article soutient la thèse que placée dans un environnement économique normal, néammoins l'allocation de ressources éducatives peut ne pas être influencée par les conditions économiques; dans de telles conditions, une détérioration comme la récente récession mondiale influence défavorablement le développement de l'éducation. Il est ensuite démontré que dans des conditions économiques qui se dégradent, l'enseignement primaire souffre davantage que l'enseignement supérieur, et que les pressions socio?politiques populaires entrainent une expansion quantitative plutôt que qualitative de l'enseignement. Les cas de l'Amérique Latine et des Caraïbes sont présentés en support de ces arguments. Resumen II ANÁLISIS GENERALES, REGIONALES Y SECTORIALES Declinación económica y recesión educacional en América Latina Este artículo sostiene que aunque en un medio económico normal la asignación de recursos a la educación puede no ser influenciada por condiciones económicas, un deterioro de éstas, como ha sido el caso de la reciente recesión mundial, tiene una influencia adversa en el desarrollo educacional. Se sostiene además que en condiciones de persistente deterioro económico, la educación primaria sufre más que la superior y que las presiones socio?políticas populares logran una expansión cuantitativa de la educación en desmedro de su calidad. Para apoyar estos argumentos se presentan datos correspondientes a América Latina y El Caribe