How Public Spending Can Help You Grow: An Empirical Analysis for Developing Countries

Although many studies indicate that both the level and composition of public spending are significant for economic growth, the results in the empirical literature are still mixed. This note is based on a paper of the same title (Bayraktar and Moreno-Dodson 2010) that compares a set of fast-growing developing countries to a mix of developing countries with different growth patterns. Considering the full government budget constraint, the empirical analysis shows that public spending, especially its “core” components, contributes to economic growth only in countries that are capable of using funds for productive purposes. In addition, those countries must have an adequate economic policy environment with macroeconomic stability, openness, and private sector investments that are conducive to growth.public spending, growth, developing countries, fiscal budget, government spending, economic policy, macroeconomic stability, openness, private sector

How can public spending help you grow? an empirical analysis for developing countries

Although many studies indicate that both the level and composition of public spending are significant for economic growth, the results in the empirical literature are still mixed. This paper studies the importance of country sample selection and expenditure classification in explaining these conflicting results. It investigates a set of fast-growing countries versus a mix of countries with different growth patterns. The regression specifications include different components of public expenditure and total fiscal revenues, always considering the overall government budget constraint. Total public spending is first disaggregated using a definition that classifies public spending as productive versus unproductive components, an a priori criterion that is based on the expected impact of public spending items on the private sector production function. After empirically confirming the validity of this definition in the panel analysis, the authors suggest and test an alternative definition of"core"public spending that may be more appropriate for developing countries. The empirical analysis shows that the link between growth and public spending, especially the productive and"core"components, is strong only for the fast-growing group. In addition, macroeconomic stability, openness, and private sector investment are significant in the fast-growing group, which points to the existence of an economic policy environment more conducive to growth in the first group of countries. The authors conclude that public spending can be a significant determinant of growth for countries that are capable of using funds for productive purposes.Public Sector Expenditure Policy,Subnational Economic Development,Public Sector Economics,Debt Markets,Achieving Shared Growth

Public Finance for Poverty Reduction: An Overview

Governments in low-income countries have the difficult task of making wide-ranging decisions about public spending, taxation, and borrowing with the aim of helping their countries maintain long-term debt sustainability, achieve higher economic growth, and ultimately reduce poverty. Making such decisions is difficult because it involves considering multiple trade-offs. There are at least four reasons why designing and implementing fiscal policies that contribute to growth and poverty reduction are particularly challenging tasks in developing countries. First, private-market failures are widespread and often unpredictable. Second, government and institutional failures also limit the effectiveness of public interventions. Third, raising public revenues is difficult in a context of macroeconomic and growth instability, high debt ratios, weak tax administration, and large informal sectors. Finally, many developing countries lack the data necessary to conduct a thorough analysis of the effect of government policies on the poor segments of the population. Despite those challenges, however, the budget remains one of the most important instruments (together with laws and regulations) that governments have at their disposal to foster poverty reduction. Policy makers in both developing and developed countries, as well as nongovernmental or-ganizations and providers of aid, can benefit from a deeper understanding of how internally or externally financed public funds channeled through the budget can be used more successfully to benefit the poor in a realistic manner. This paper, which serves as an introduction to an edited volume on "Public Finance for Poverty Reduction" starts with a brief discussion of the rationale behind the role of the government in public finance. Then we discuss some of the limitations faced by governments in developing countries. We follow those discussions with an overview of the nature and structure of the material presented in the book and with our thoughts on germane topics yet to be addressed adequately.Public finance; poverty reduction; taxation; debt sustainability; public expenditure; incidence analysis

Debt Sustainability for Low-Income Countries: A Review of Standard and Alternative Concepts

Governments in low-income countries have the difficult task of making wide-ranging decisions about public spending, taxation, and borrowing. Although we can analyze at length how both public spending and taxation can be designed and implemented to contribute to growth and poverty reduction, the biggest challenge that most developing countries face is in determining how much they can borrow without jeopardizing their long-term prospects. The objective of this paper is to introduce the key issues involved in debt sustainability analysis. We review the main approaches developed in the literature, starting from the traditional fiscal and external approaches and covering recent alternative frameworks, such as the debt overhang analysis and the human development approach (especially as it relates to the funding requirements for achieving the Millennium Development Goals).Debt sustainbility; fiscal sustainability; debt overhang; Millennium Development Goals; human development

Intertemporal adjustment and fiscal policy under a fixed exchange rate regime

The paper presents a dynamic model for small to medium open economies operating under a fixed exchange rate regime. The model provides a partial explanation of the channels through which fiscal and monetary policy affects the real exchange rate. An empirical investigation is conducted for the case of Argentina during the currency board period of 1991-2001. Empirical estimates show that fiscal policy may indeed be an efficient instrument for promoting macroeconomic stability insofar as it encourages convergence toward long-run equilibrium and alters the long-term balance between exports and consumption, both private and public. The simulation applied to Argentina shows that if the share of public spending in the economy is higher than the share of imports, an increase in the tax rate will stimulate capital stock slightly, at least in the short term, anddepreciate the real effective exchange rate. In the long run, the fiscal policy affects the value of the real exchange rate and consequently external competitiveness.Currencies and Exchange Rates,Economic Stabilization,Debt Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets

Valencian municipalities: An analysis of depopulation factors

Treball Final de Grau en Economia. Codi: EC1049. Curs acadèmic: 2020/2021The aim of this paper is to study which municipalities are at risk of depopulation in the Valencian Community. Firstly, the problem of depopulation has been contextualized through a review of the literature, explaining its origin, the factors that influence it, and how the problem should be tackled. Then, after data collection, the demographic indicators of depopulation and the tools used for their study were explained. Subsequently, a spatial dependency analysis was carried out for each indicator. Finally, the Valencian municipalities at risk of depopulation and their level of risk have been identified

Risks to the human health derived from the exhibition for managing and storage of chemical substances in the commercial and industrial establishments of Bogota during 2013

En el presente documento se expone parte del análisis de los datos recopilados durante la vigilancia sanitaria realizada a empresas o establecimientos de Bogotá, que manipulan, almacenan o comercializan sustancias químicas y que fueron visitados por la Línea de Seguridad Química del Área de Vigilancia en Salud Pública de los Hospitales del Distrito durante el 2013. El propósito es analizar de manera sucinta los efectos potenciales en salud asociados al uso intensivo de sustancias químicas. Se partió de la información contenida en el Boletín de Seguridad Química [1], priorizando las cinco sustancias químicas almacenadas en mayor cantidad en Bogotá, citando para cada una los riesgos para la salud y los límites de exposición establecidos.In the present document there is exposed part of the analysis of the information compiled during the sanitary vigilance realized to companies or establishments of Bogota, which manipulate, store or commercialize chemical substances and that were visited by the Line of Chemical Security of the Area of Vigilance in Public Health of the Hospitals of the District during 2013. The intention is to analyze succinctly the potential effects in health associated with the intensive use of chemical substances. It split of the information contained in the Bulletin of Chemical Security prioritizing five chemical substances stored in major quantity in Bogota, mentioning for each one the risks for the health and the limits of exhibition established

La yupana y el sistema de numeración maya

Las matemáticas de los pueblos ancestrales han sido opacadas por la gran sombra que producen los avances de las matemáticas de occidente. Pretendemos con este trabajo mostrar una posibilidad de enseñanza de sistemas de numeración y cálculo bajo el uso de la propuesta pedagógica Muiskanoba. Esta propuesta pedagógica recoge las formas de aprendizaje que usaron nuestros ancestros muiscas y tiene como base fundamental la itinerancia, no sólo física sino de palabra y pensamiento

Expanding taxable capacity and reaching revenue potential : cross-country analysis

An effective tax system is fundamental for successful country development. The first step to understand public revenue systems is to establish some commonly agreed performance measurements and benchmarks. This paper employs a cross-country study to estimate tax capacity from a sample of 104 countries during 1994-2003. The estimation results are then used as benchmarks to compare taxable capacity and tax effort in different countries. Taxable capacity refersto the predicted tax-gross domestic product ratio that can be estimated with the regression, taking into account a country's specific economic, demographic, and institutional features. Tax effort is defined as an index of the ratio between the share of the actual tax collection in gross domestic product and the predicted taxable capacity. The authors classify countries into four distinct groups by their level of actual tax collection and attained tax effort. This classification is based on the benchmark of the global average of tax collection and a tax effort index of 1 (when tax collection is exactly the same as the estimated taxable capacity). The analysis provides guidance for countries with various levels of tax collection and tax effort.Taxation&Subsidies,Debt Markets,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research