•There was no political divergence on environmental concern in US public from 1974 to 1991.•There was political polarization on environmental concern in US public since 1992.•Polarization seems ...driven by increasing anti-environmentalism among conservative elites.•These results are consistent with party sorting theory.
Since the early 1990s, the American conservative movement has become increasingly hostile toward environmental protection and Congressional Republicans have become increasingly anti-environmental in their voting records. Party sorting theory holds that such political polarization among elites will likely extend to the general public. Analyzing General Social Survey data from 1974 to 2012, we examine whether political polarization has occurred on support for government spending on environmental protection over this time period in the US general public. We find that there has been significant partisan and ideological polarization on support for environmental spending since 1992—consistent with the expectations of party sorting theory. This political polarization on environmental concern in the general public will likely endure save for political convergence on environmental concern among elites in the near future. Such polarization likely will inhibit the further development and implementation of environmental policy and the diffusion of environmentally friendly behaviors.
An important literature shows that inflation targeting (IT) adoption improves fiscal discipline. Our impact assessment analysis performed in a large sample of 89 developing countries over three ...decades shows that this favorable impact covers a composition effect: IT adoption is found to reduce more current expenditure compared with public investment in IT countries relative to non-IT countries. This finding is robust to various alternative specification, related to the structure of the sample, the measurement of the IT regime, or the estimation method. Consequently, aside from its acknowledged benefits for monetary policy goals, IT appears as an efficient tool to strengthen fiscal policy in developing countries towards lower and more productive public expenditure.
The article studies the impact of provincial public expenditure on economic growth in Vietnamese localities in the context of the impact of Covid-19, with balance panel data of 63 provinces and ...cities collected in the period 2012 - 2021 (Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021). The results of the model estimate using the least feasible squared method show that public spending positively impacts economic growth in localities even in the context of the impact of Covid-19. The presence of Covid-19 has had a strong negative effect on economic growth in localities considering both the number of infections and the period of infection and has significantly reduced the impact of public expenditure, extra-budget investment, and human resources. This result is consistent with the actual situation in Vietnam during the Covid-19 pandemic. An interesting finding of the study is that the negative impact of corruption on local economic growth has decreased significantly in the context of the impact of Covid-19. Therefore, improving the efficiency of public expenditure, attracting extra-budget investment, and promoting the efficiency of local labor resources are still important to contribute to promoting economic growth in Vietnamese localities.
Purpose: The purpose of the research is to analyze fluctuations in global oil prices and identify the factors that control them. The study aims to clarify the nature and characteristics of the ...international oil market, as well as the relationship between oil, public expenditure, and the economy in rentier countries. The research seeks to provide insights into the economic effects of the dominance of the oil resource and track the trends of oil, public expenditure, economic growth, and development in Iraq. Additionally, the study aims to evaluate the extent to which the fiscal policies pursued by oil rent countries are serving their goals, and to recommend ways to ensure the rationalization of public expenditure and real economic growth in these countries.
Theoretical framework: the research is based on several economic theories related to the international oil market and rentier economies. The study uses theories such as supply and demand, rentier state, Dutch disease, and public choice theory to analyze the economic effects of oil revenues in rentier countries, the factors that control the international oil market, and the behavior of governments and policymakers in allocating public funds.
Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted the induction method to achieve the objectives of the research and get the intended results by analyzing the data and statistical tables of the sample country.
Findings: The research findings suggest that oil rents lead to inefficiency, increased centralization of power, and patterns of public expenditure that decrease efficiency. Rentier economies face challenges in diversifying and reducing their dependence on oil exports. Adherence to budgets and developing transparent and flexible principles is crucial for real economic growth in rentier economies. Effective management of oil revenues and public expenditure is essential for sustainable economic growth in these economies.
Research, Practical & Social implications: The research has practical implications for policymakers, emphasizing the need for effective management of oil revenues and public expenditure for sustainable economic growth. Social implications relate to the impact of oil revenues on society, highlighting the need for improved living standards and reduced poverty.
Originality/value: The research is valuable as it provides original insights into the economic effects of oil rents and highlights the challenges faced by policymakers in managing rentier economies. The study's emphasis on effective management of oil revenues and public expenditure and the development of transparent and flexible principles adds value to the literature. The research provides valuable insights into the international oil market and emphasizes the importance of sustainable economic growth.
In this study, we provide empirical evidence on the incentive role of official promotion from the perspective of managing economic growth targets. Using a manual dataset of economic growth targets in ...230 Chinese cities during 2003–2016, we find that economic growth targets of governments curb public service expenditure on education, science and technology and this distortion results in the stagnation of human capital and technological progress, constraining long-term economic growth. When the growth target size of cities exceeds that of higher-level governments or if governments overfulfill their growth target tasks, then public service expenditure will decrease. We interpret the empirical findings as evidence that promotion evaluation based on economic performance distorts the composition of public expenditure, hinders sustainable economic development, and even accelerates the start of an economic downturn. Our study adds significant evidence to the theoretical literature emphasizing that the official evaluation system and public service could affect business cycle.
•Promotion evaluation using economic performance distorts public expenditure.•Government economic growth targets curb public expenditure of education, science and technology.•This distortion also hinders economic development and accelerates economic downturn.•Government economic growth targets are related with official promotion in China.
Abstract
The inclusion of mental health in the Sustainable Development Goals represents a global commitment to include mental health among the highest health and development priorities for ...investment. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), such as South Africa, contemplating mental health system scale-up embedded into wider universal health coverage-related health system transformations, require detailed and locally derived estimates on existing mental health system resources and constraints. The absence of these data has limited scale-up efforts to address the burden of mental disorders in most LMICs. We conducted a national survey to quantify public expenditure on mental health and evaluate the constraints of the South African mental health system. The study found that South Africa’s public mental health expenditure in the 2016/17 financial year was USD615.3 million, representing 5.0% of the total public health budget (provincial range: 2.1–7.7% of provincial health budgets) and USD13.3 per capita uninsured. Inpatient care represented 86% of mental healthcare expenditure, with nearly half of total mental health spending occurring at the psychiatric hospital-level. Almost one-quarter of mental health inpatients are readmitted to hospital within 3 months of a previous discharge, costing the public health system an estimated USD112 million. Crude estimates indicate that only 0.89% and 7.35% of the uninsured population requiring care received some form of public inpatient and outpatient mental healthcare, during the study period. Further, mental health human resource availability, infrastructure and medication supply are significant constraints to the realization of the country’s progressive mental health legislation. For the first time, this study offers a nationally representative reflection of the state of mental health spending and elucidates inefficiencies and constraints emanating from existing mental health investments in South Africa. With this information at hand, the government now has a baseline for which a rational process to planning for system reforms can be initiated.
Effective public expenditure currently dominates the management focus of many protected areas. This calls for explicit modeling of constraints and motivations that, respectively, obstruct and ...stimulate visits to selected outdoor destinations. Choice set formation is the result of screening and/or inclusion of specific sites (alternatives) to form the set of sites considered in real choices. Evidence shows that the omission of a structural representation of choice set formation is harmful to econometric inference. Yet, the literature has largely ignored the underlying behavioral phenomenon. We show, using a discrete choice experiment involving selection among seven recreational sites in an Italian national park, that choice set formation is behaviorally relevant, even after controlling for preference discrimination. Motivations (why visit?) are important determinants of preliminary site screening for choice set inclusion, as well as site selection, justifying the additional value of such modeling extension.
•We provide theoretical and empirical evidence for choice set formation in decision process in recreation destination choice.•Antecedent volition is a primitive motivation behind choice of outdoor destinations; it is a determinant of site inclusion.•The omission of a structural representation of choice set formation negatively affects econometric inferences.•It undermines allocation of resources due to erroneous policy recommendations based on econometric mis-specification.
Two pension reforms in Austria increased the early retirement age (ERA) from 60 to 62 for men and from 55 to 58.25 for women. We find that raising the ERA increased employment by 9.75 percentage ...points among affected men and by 11 percentage points among affected women. The reforms had large spillover effects on the unemployment insurance program but negligible effects on disability insurance claims. Specifically, unemployment increased by 12.5 percentage points among men and by 11.8 percentage points among women. The employment response was largest among high-wage and healthy workers, while low-wage and less healthy workers either continued to retire early via disability benefits or bridged the gap to the ERA via unemployment benefits. Taking spillover effects and additional tax revenues into account, we find that for a typical birth-year cohort a one year increase in the ERA resulted in a reduction of net government expenditures of 107million euros for men and of 122million euros for women.
•This paper studies changes in Austria's early retirement age.•The early retirement age was increased by 2years for men and 3.25years for women.•We find that the changes caused a significant increase in employment.•We also find large spillover effects on the unemployment insurance program.•These spillover effects eroded the savings in net government expenditures.
When policies and programmes are designed and implemented successfully by governments, it tends to improve development indices such as reducing poverty, when governance is good. The paper examined ...the impact of governance, public expenditure and trade on poverty reduction in some selected Sub-Saharan African countries, using Pool Mean Group (PMG) with data spanned for 21 years (1996-2016). The results show a long-run association between governance, public expenditure, trade and poverty reduction in SSA. Also, control of corruption, political stability, government expenditure, and trade reduces poverty by enhancing the Human Development Index (HDI) in the long run. This outcome implies that improving governance (control of corruption and political stability) is vital for reducing poverty as it increases the adequate performance of public expenditure and as well as promote trade in SSA.
We show that the introduction of the procurement centralization within the regional healthcare systems in Italy reduced per capita health expenditure approximatelyt by 2–8%, without affecting the ...level of health-related public services. Our results also indicate that the effect is persistent after six years, and is not influenced by the coexistence of other organizational models, such as amalgamation and hybrid systems. Finally, we document that the reduction in public expenditure is effective only in areas characterized by poor quality of institutions, indicating that procurement centralization might be an effective tool to reduce corruption-related inefficiencies in the health sector.
•We study the impact of the Central Purchasing Bodies (CPB) in the Italian health-care system.•We use ASLs’ balance sheets over the period 2003–2012 and we employ a DiD approach.•The CPB is associated with a 2–8% reduction in ASLs health expenditure.•The provision of local health services is not affected by the introduction of CPB.•The effect is effective only in areas characterized by poor quality of institutions.
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