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The paper aims to assess the macroeconomic impacts of government investment in Research and Development (R&D) and more generic fiscal policies by quantifying the Gross domestic product (GDP) and business R&D investment multipliers. Following the recent literature on fiscal policy, we combine the Local Projection approach with fiscal shocks estimated using Structural Vector Autoregressive modeling by focusing on a panel of 15 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for the 1981–2017 period. Our findings support the idea that expansionary fiscal policies can positively and persistently affect the GDP level and crowd in business R&D investment. Additionally, our results show that public investment in R&D generates the largest multiplicative effect both on GDP and business R&D than the one associated with more generic public expenditures, even when fiscal expectations are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting demand shocks from changes in federal government spending, we examine how the organizational structure of a firm affects its investment behavior. Government spending shocks affect the investment of government-dependent conglomerate segments less than matched stand-alone firms. Investment also increases in lower government-dependent segments when other segments within the same firm experience positive demand shocks, indicating cross-subsidization between segments. We further show that this cross-subsidization leads to worse operating performance and increases the diversification discount. Our findings are robust after addressing the endogeneity of government spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide empirical evidence concerning dynamic persistence and spillovers in public expenditures with a focus on local governments. Using a unique panel dataset consisting of the counties and independent cities of Virginia, we find both time persistence and neighbour spillovers present in the data, but we find that time persistence is much stronger and reduces the strength of spatial spillovers by an average of 40% for different spending categories. We find that a spillover model is not well suited to local government expenditures due to mandatory spending. Time persistence captures the slow pace of many government activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments increasingly restrict civil society organizations (CSOs). Different theories converge on the expectation that CSOs are important for public goods. A largely unexplored implication is that increased restrictions on CSOs will signal the under‐delivery of public goods. Using data on government‐imposed restrictions on CSOs for a global sample of countries, we test this implication. Controlling for unobserved cross‐country heterogeneity, temporal shocks, and confounding variables, we find that the accumulation of restrictions on CSOs negatively correlate with public goods‐oriented government spending and positively correlate with corruption and clientelism in the future. Our evidence also suggests that the mechanism underpinning these findings is that persistent restrictions on CSOs negatively correlate with engaged society and, to some extent, protest. While global governance actors warn of the negative consequences of restrictions on CSOs, our analyses provide evidence that restrictions are indeed a red flag for governments' failure to live up to their public goods commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study examines the impact of green finance on China’s tourism industry using panel data of 240 cities—both tourist and non-tourist—from 2011 to 2019. Our findings reveal an ‘inverted U’ relationship between green finance and tourism development in both tourist and non-tourist cities. We identified the threshold of green finance in tourist cities to be 0.302, higher than the threshold of 0.284 in non-tourist cities. In addition, international trade, foreign direct investment, and disposable income per capita were found to promote tourism, while urban price levels, integration of the digital economy, and air pollution showed an inhibitory effect on tourism development. The results also indicated that fixed asset investment is a promoting mechanism, while city loans, government expenditures, and tertiary industry serve as inhibiting mechanisms linking green finance to tourism. Overall, cities with lower levels of tourism development may need greater short-term financial support to facilitate their progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines William Gladstone's Irish policy through the prism of his commitment to 'sound' finance, a fiscal programme involving low taxation, minimal government expenditure, balanced budgets and free trade. These prescriptions, it argues, served as an unintentional stimulus to Irish nationalism while also encouraging Gladstone's receptivity to Home Rule, because by the 1880s he had become convinced that the cost of governing Ireland within the framework of the Union was imperilling 'sound' finance throughout the United Kingdom. Viewed from the vantage of fiscal policy, it concludes, Gladstone's approach to Ireland was characterized by ideological rigidity rather than political adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about socially uneven progress and inequality have regained public attention (including that of many populist politicians). The purpose of this paper is to identify the economic policies as well as economic factors that facilitate inclusive development. This paper is a first attempt to empirically estimate the drivers of inclusive development. For our empirical assessments, we apply the Multidimensional Inclusiveness Index suggested by Dörffel and Schuhmann (2022) in a panel OLS regression setup with fixed effects (FE) and GMM estimations for up to 178 countries and a time frame ranging from 1980 to 2018. In FE regressions, we find robust associations with inflation as well as financial sector development in the short and long-run, trade/GDP in the long-run. The GMM results point only to inflation and trade as significant drivers in the long-run and investment in the short run. These results suggest that accessible and well-functioning financial markets paired with low rates of inflation and high trade openness take on a more critical role than government spending. Our results suggest that rudiments of the Washington consensus could still guide the promotion of inclusive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of importance to enhance the urban areas' capacity for population aggregation in underdeveloped regions, aiming to rectify the imbalanced and insufficient pattern of economic development in China. Taking the Taiyuan Metropolitan Area (TMA) in central China as a case study, this paper examines the evolutionary process and characteristics of population agglomeration from 2000 to 2020, and identifies factors associated with agglomeration and their spatial effects. The findings indicated that: 1) against the background of sustained population shrinkage in the provincial area, the TMA showed a demographic trend of steady increase, albeit with a decelerated growth rate. In the metropolitan area, urban population size continued to grow rapidly, whereas the rural areas endured sustained losses. Disparities in city size continued to widen, and the polarization of concentrated population in the core cities kept increasing. 2) Agglomerations in both secondary and service industries had significant positive effects on local population agglomeration, with the former effect being stronger. Regional economic development, government fiscal expenditure, and financial advancement all contributed to facilitating local population clustering. From a spatial spillover perspective, service agglomeration and financial development promoted population agglomeration in surrounding areas. Conversely, fiscal expenditure inhibited such agglomeration. As for industrial agglomeration and regional economic development, their spatial spillover effects were non-significant. The results obtained reveal several policy implications aimed at enhancing the population agglomeration capacity of the metropolitan area in underdeveloped regions during the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a cloud computing environment, the primary goal of resource scheduling is to reduce the economic expenditures for cloud users and grow fiscal achievement for cloud providers. In this article, the study of numerous forms of resource scheduling algorithms is presented that has been applied in IaaS clouds. The selected research articles are classified into six categories, according to the nature of the algorithm used. Further, the authors pointed out several issues and challenges with the help of the resource scheduling algorithms, the comparative performance metrics, and the simulation tools used to validate the several algorithms. The enhancement illustrates better performance concerns decreasing the cost and time while improving the competence and utilization of resources for IaaS clouds. These algorithms are executed in numerous simulation tools and real environments similar to CloudSim, SimGrid, MATLAB, and test‐bed environments (practical implementation). This critical review and classification will serve as a foundation for further research in IaaS clouds in the Internet of Things (IoT) environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the effects of fiscal expenditures by the government on agricultural credit by considering the mediating role of sustainable agricultural growth and sustainable agricultural income. This study uses panel data from 31 Chinese provinces for the period 2009–2021. For in‐depth analysis, the sample is divided into different regions ‐ eastern, central, and western. For the empirical estimations, the ordinary least squares (OL), fixed effect (FE), random effect (RE), two‐way fixed effect (FE), and two‐stage least‐squares (2SLS) methods are employed. The results of the study demonstrate a significantly positive connection between governmental agricultural expenditures (GAEs) and agricultural credit (AC). The findings of the mediation analysis highlight a significantly positive mediating role of sustainable agricultural income in the association between GAEs and AC. The results of the regional analysis reveal a positive connection between GAEs and AC in all regions. It is recommended that government should increase its investment in the agriculture sector through both direct and indirect means of fiscal support, it can improve the agricultural income of farmers at a sustainable level and the repayment ability of farmers and rural households, and it can make their easy access to AC from banks and other financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental pollution and climatic change impel economies to discover new methods for sustainable economic development. Green growth is considered an effective way of environmental sustainability. From this perspective, this study evaluates the impact of fiscal policy shocks, financial institutions, and markets development on the green growth of high-polluting economies. The study employed a CS-NARDL approach for investigating the short-run and long-run estimates. The results show that positive shocks in government spending tend to significantly increase green growth in the long-run. In contrast, the negative shock is government spending does not report any significant influence on green growth in the long-run. Financial institution's and financial market's efficiency have a positive impact on green growth in the long-run. Thus, the findings of the study suggest that government spending should be increased with a particular focus on financial markets efficiency and financial institution's efficiency to enhance green growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Netherlands, access to disability insurance has become gradually more limited and demanding. The same holds for sheltered work. This puts disabled workers, and especially those with no working history, in disadvantaged competition with the non-disabled segment of the working population. In this study, we employ a Lotka–Volterra competition model based on differential equations to investigate how government expenditures for disability and other social benefits interacted in the period between 2010 and 2018. We contribute to the literature by showing that public expenditure for disability is not autonomous and that its competitive power in the social protection ecosystem changes both in type and over time. Our findings suggest that government expenditure for disability benefits in the Netherlands behaved both as prey in favour and predator at the cost of social exclusion and unemployment benefits. Reforms that took place in the ecosystem of interest are used to interpret such behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries of the world have implemented subsidy programs to maintain a minimum amount of farm production especially for rice. Agricultural support programs usually cause significant fiscal burdens on government budgets. These programs can be generally categorized into decoupled and coupled programs, and one longstanding research interest of previous literature is whether these programs are decoupled or coupled with farm production practices. In Taiwan, a unique land direct payment (LDP) program to rice farms was implemented to ease severe financial burden of the price support program with government purchase. In contrast to production control programs imposing quantity restrictions on farm production, this program is voluntary for rice farms, and participants are paid at a fixed rate per hectare of farmland. This paper examines the impacts of this program on farm income and farm production practices in Taiwan. The causal effect of the program is identified based on the exogenous rollout of the policy across multiple times and areas. We construct a dataset linking nationally representative rice farm surveys over several years and administrative records on program recipients to estimate the local average treatment effect of the program. We find that the effect is 4% of farm income. In addition, program participants rely less on price support programs and produce less rice and use less fertilizer, pesticide, and machinery. Although the LDP reduces rice production, we find that it causes overall government spending on the price support and direct payment programs to increase by 8.7% after the LDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a newly assembled dataset on various types of social protection spending in 154 countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 to analyze the effect of the electoral cycle on the size and composition of the social protection stimulus budget. The analysis shows that the longer the time since the last election in a country—and thus the sooner the next election date—the larger the share of the social protection pandemic budget allocated to social assistance and income protection, and the lower the share allocated to job retention schemes. The electoral cycle appears to have impacted the size of social assistance spending only in countries with high political competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of municipal and provincial public social spending for local income inequality after taxes and transfers in Austria. We utilize a spatial multi‐level model, which allows us to analyze the contribution of three spatial scales (municipal, district, and provincial level) to municipal income inequality. Our analysis shows that the effect of public social spending on local Gini indices does not only differ across provinces but also across municipalities which indicates that the potential cushioning effect of social expenditure is highly localized. Further splitting total public social expenditure into three distinct categories (education, health, social protection) reveals that spending on social protection has the highest effect on local inequality across all provinces, while health spending does not exert a discernible influence in any province. The method and results presented in this paper are of international interest for policymakers and researchers who aim to investigate whether the same patterns hold true in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Old‐age state pension is central to European welfare states. Despite the growing number of migrants in Europe, little is known about their attitudes towards state pension. Pension systems are designed for a ‘sedentary’ population, as they require many years of contribution or residency in the country. This often affects first‐generation migrants, who arrive in the residence country only at a later point in their lives. In this paper, we draw on self‐interest theory, which is commonly used to explain individuals' support towards welfare institutions and theorize on how the migration experience adds to the standard model of self‐interest in relation to support for government spending on old‐age state pensions. Hence, we move beyond traditional indicators of self‐interest such as education and employment status and we test hypotheses on how migrant‐specific characteristics like length of stay and settlement intention in the residence country are related to migrants' support for government spending on old‐age state pensions. We use data from the Migrants' Welfare State Attitudes (MIFARE) survey (2016), the first cross‐national survey that focuses on migrants' attitudes towards the welfare state that was collected in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands among nine different migrant groups from within and outside the EU. We find that migrants living in the country for over 5 years and those with longer settlement intentions have a higher support for government spending on pensions. We conclude that it is crucial to take migrants' unique migration experiences into account when assessing their attitudes towards state pension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The demographic changes affecting Switzerland and other European countries, including population ageing, will continue to challenge policymakers in building accessible, affordable, comprehensive and high-quality long-term care (LTC) systems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Switzerland's LTC system compares to other European countries, in order to inform how to respond to the increasing need for LTC. We carried out a descriptive study using secondary data from key national and international organizations. Methods: By comparing the financing, workforce, service delivery and need for LTC in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom, we described similarities and differences in these five European countries between 2005-2019. Thirty-three indicators within five domains were analysed: (1) Population statistics and health expenditure, (2) Need for LTC, (3) LTC financing, (4) LTC service delivery, and (5) LTC workforce. Results: Switzerland has the highest life expectancy in comparison to the other four high-income countries. However, similarly to other countries, the years lived with disability are increasing in Switzerland. Switzerland's public expenditure on LTC as a share of GDP is lower than that of Norway and Germany, yet out-of-pocket expenditure on LTC is highest in Switzerland. Switzerland has the highest proportion of persons receiving formal LTC both in institutions and at home. Switzerland has had the most pronounced increase in the proportion of over 65-year-olds receiving LTC at home. Even though more than fourfold more persons receive care at home, Switzerland still has more workforce in LTC institutions than in home-care. In comparison to Germany and the UK, Switzerland has a lower number of informal carers as a proportion of 50-year-olds and over, as well as fewer nationally available services for informal carers compared to Germany, Italy, Norway and the UK. Conclusions: Our comparative study corroborates the importance of improving the affordability of LTC, continuing to support the movement towards home care services, improving the support given to both the professional workforce and informal carers, and improving the amount and quality of LTC data. It also provides a valuable contrast to other European countries to support evidence-informed policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy by estimating fiscal multipliers for Tunisia. The study is based on the Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) model and uses quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2019Q4. Five main insights can be drawn from these results. First, fiscal multipliers are moderate, as suggested by earlier studies. Second, spending multipliers generated by total and consumption expenditures, respectively, are small, implying that government spending generates substantial crowding out effects. Third, investment multipliers are larger than consumption multipliers. Fourth, fiscal multipliers have declined in the post-2011 revolution period, suggesting that spending multipliers are lower during times of recession. Fifth, domestic supply shocks could shape the effects of fiscal policy and cause spending multipliers to fall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been longstanding international fascination with the British National Health Service since it was established in 1948. The British population itself has offered enduring support for the principles and institutions of public provision. However, coverage of the NHS has typically been uneven in academic and policy debates. There is limited understanding of some darker corners of NHS provision resulting in a partial picture of public service provision. Public dentistry has been a Cinderella service in broader debates about the NHS and a check‐up is overdue. We offer a long‐term view of dentistry that assesses the current state of dental health policy, including its gradual decay. We examine the purpose of dentistry and the challenge of injecting fundamental National Health Service values (weighted capitation and a focus on need) into services and which necessitates redistribution and tackling shibboleths of NHS provision. Alongside political values and public attitudes, we examine the interests of professional stakeholders and how the combination of values, attitudes, and interests does not currently cohere into a sustainable policy. We explore how dentistry might recover purpose and respond to need. Discussion is prescient considering an acknowledged crisis in British dental care, including widespread public and media coverage, and with 2024 being a general election year with NHS provision a familiar battleground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While substantial gains have been made in the fight against malaria over the past 20 years, malaria morbidity and mortality are marked by inequality. The equitable elimination of malaria within countries will be determined in part by greater spending on malaria interventions, and how those investments are allocated. This study aims to identify potential drivers of malaria outcome inequality and to demonstrate how spending through different mechanisms might lead to greater health equity. Methods: Using the Gini index, subnational estimates of malaria incidence and mortality rates from 2010 to 2020 were used to quantify the degree of inequality in malaria burden within countries with incidence rates above 5000 cases per 100,000 people in 2020. Estimates of Gini indices represent within-country distributions of disease burden, with high values corresponding to inequitable distributions of malaria burden within a country. Time series analyses were used to quantify associations of malaria inequality with malaria spending, controlling for country socioeconomic and population characteristics. Results: Between 2010 and 2020, varying levels of inequality in malaria burden within malaria-endemic countries was found. In 2020, values of the Gini index ranged from 0.06 to 0.73 for incidence, 0.07 to 0.73 for mortality, and 0.00 to 0.36 for case fatality. Greater total malaria spending, spending on health systems strengthening for malaria, healthcare access and quality, and national malaria incidence were associated with reductions in malaria outcomes inequality within countries. In addition, government expenditure on malaria, aggregated government and donor spending on treatment, and maternal educational attainment were also associated with changes in malaria outcome inequality among countries with the greatest malaria burden. Conclusions: The findings from this study suggest that prioritizing health systems strengthening in malaria spending and malaria spending in general especially from governments will help to reduce inequality of the malaria burden within countries. Given heterogeneity in outcomes in countries currently fighting to control malaria, and the challenges in increasing both domestic and international funding allocated to control and eliminate malaria, the efficient targeting of limited resources is critical to attain global malaria eradication goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, political turmoil, and economic instability worldwide suggest that managing migration surges will be a permanent challenge for many economies. In response to the record arrival of unaccompanied migrant children at the southern border, the Biden administration used surge facilities to expedite the processing of children. We assess the effectiveness of this strategy and document reductions in the time children spent under government custody. A counterfactual analysis reveals that, in their absence, the average time to reunification would have risen from 37 to 50 days. Migration surges involving unaccompanied children underscore the urgency of identifying efficient and humanitarian strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The link between public health spending (PHS) and population health outcomes (PHO) has been extensively studied. However, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the moderating effects of governance in this relationship are little known. Furthermore, studies have focused on mortality as the main health outcome. This study contributes to this literature by investigating the moderating role of governance in the relationship by simultaneously assessing three dimensions of governance (corruption control, government effectiveness and voice accountability) using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) as a measure of outcomes. Methods: The study applies the two-stage moderation approach using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to panel data from 43 SSA nations from 2013 to 2019. The study also uses domestic general government health expenditure (DGGHE) as an independent variable and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) as the dependent variable in this relationship. Results: The analysis reveals that DGGHE affects DALY negatively and that governance improves the effect of DGGHE on DALY, with bigger improvements among countries with worse governance. Conclusion: These findings provide evidence that good governance is crucial to the effectiveness of PHS in SSA nations. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries should improve governance to improve population health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The granting of authority based on regional autonomy should be able to create local government independence to manage their own finances through local own-source revenue and promote sustainable economic growth. However, many previous studies have found the flypaper effect phenomenon in Indonesia. This research aims to determine the effect of local own-source revenue, intergovernmental transfers, and local government financing on local government expenditure and detect the flypaper effect phenomenon in Indonesia. This quantitative method with a purposive sampling technique has been used to obtain data from 467 regencies/cities in Indonesia for the fiscal year 2021. Hypothesis testing in this research employs multiple linear regression analysis. The research result shows local own-source revenue, general allocation fund, special allocation fund, and revenue sharing fund do not affect local government expenditure, and local government financing positively affects local government expenditure. This research did not find the flypaper effect in local governments in Indonesia but identified other funding mechanisms to meet the needs of local government expenditure derived from local government financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income inequality is one of the most important social problems of our time due to the potential problems it poses for social peace and well-being. This study aims to measure the effectiveness of social protection programs in solving the problem of increasing income inequality. In this context, the extent to which social protection expenditures are effective in reducing income inequality at the cumulative and functional level is tried to be determined. The impact of different expenditure components on income inequality was analyzed for European countries between 2005 and 2017. The results show that public expenditures and total social protection expenditures as a whole contribute more to reducing income inequality. Moreover, expenditures on old age, disability, family benefits, unemployment, and housing are effective in reducing income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly all countries today deal with poverty and immigration and work to find solutions to these difficulties. This paper is designed to examine the spatial effects of public expenditures and poverty on internal migration in Turkey. According to the findings, poverty reduces immigration. It is seen as a driving force, especially in areas with close neighbors. In addition, the amount of exports, labor force participation rate, population growth and the share of public expenditures in GDP positively affect migration. This relationship is also observed in terms of reference regions and units that are adjacent to these regions. The study's findings offer empirical input for relevant public policies and literature that will be used to fight poverty and migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to explain fertility dynamics during the pandemic, while considering countries' institutional context. We argue that containment policies disrupted people's lives and increased their uncertainty more in countries with weak welfare support systems, while health‐related and economic support NPIs mitigated such disruptions much more there, as they were less expected by citizens. We estimate monthly "excess" crude birth rates (CBRs) and find that countries with low public support—Southern Europe, East Asia, and Eastern Europe—experienced larger decreases and less of a rebound in CBRs than countries with histories of high public spending—Western, Central, and Northern Europe. However, in low support countries, NPIs are much more strongly associated with excess CBRs—containment NPIs more negatively and health and economic support NPIs more positively—with the exception of the one‐month lag of containment NPIs, for which the opposite holds. When putting these coefficients into broader perspective, our findings suggest that the actual implementation of all NPIs taken together mitigated fertility declines. This is especially the case for low public support countries, whereas one might have seen a birth decline even in high support countries if the NPIs were not implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the task of libraries to contribute as efficiently as possible to satisfy the needs of society and science for qualified information. Creating the structural, organisational, and other prerequisites for this requires financial expenditure from the public sector. This is only possible if the tasks of libraries are recognised by society and politicians, and public officials are persuaded to create the legal and financial conditions. The author's experiences in Freiburg i. Br., Karlsruhe, and Göttingen and in the national and international library associations are analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public expenditure aims to achieve social objectives by improving a range of socially valuable attributes of benefit (arguments in a social welfare function). Public expenditure is typically allocated to public sector budgets, where budget holders are tasked with meeting a subset of social objectives. Decision makers require an evidence-based assessment of whether a proposed investment is likely to be worthwhile given existing levels of public expenditure. However, others also require some assessment of whether the overall level and allocation of public expenditure are appropriate. This article proposes a more general theoretical framework for economic evaluation that addresses both these questions. Using a stylized example of the economic evaluation of a new intervention in a simplified UK context, we show that this more general framework can support decisions beyond the approval or rejection of single projects. It shows that broader considerations about the level and allocation of public expenditure are possible and necessary when evaluating specific investments, which requires evidence of the range of benefits offered by marginal changes in different types of public expenditure and normative choices of how the attributes of benefit gained and forgone are valued. The proposed framework shows how to assess the value of a proposed investment and whether and how the overall level of public expenditure and its allocation across public sector budgets might be changed. It highlights that cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis can be viewed as special cases of this framework, identifying the weakness with each. • Recently developed methods of economic evaluation account for the reality of a range of social objectives and multiple constrained public sector budgets, but fail to fully account for the implications of the private consumption value of attributes and do not address the broader questions of the appropriate level and allocation of public expenditure. • This study proposes a more general theoretical framework for economic evaluation highlighting that the valuation of attributes of benefit and the extent to which public expenditure affects them is necessary to address whether a proposed investment is good value and whether the level and allocation of public expenditure are appropriate. This framework exposes the assumptions embedded in cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis and identifies why neither address these questions adequately. • We provide a stylized example of a proposed investment in a simplified UK context with 2 public sectors (healthcare and Adult Social Care) and a private sector. We show that the information required to evaluate a proposed investment also provides an estimate of the marginal value of public funds across public sectors that can be used to inform broader public expenditure decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We develop a model on how military and trade alliances can impact defense spending. • Importance of trade and its balance with the leader influences defense spending. • The larger the leader's trade and surplus, the lower the minor partners' spending. Military spending was the main government expenditure until the 20th century, and it still represents a significant fraction of most governments' budgets. We develop a theoretical model to understand how both military and trade alliances with military leaders can impact defense spending. By increasing the costs of military aggression by a non-ally, an alliance reduces the probability of war and allows minor partners reducing their military spending in exchange for a stronger trade relationship with an alliance leader and a higher trading surplus for the latter. We test our hypotheses with data on 138 countries for 1996–2020. Our results show that the importance of the trade relationship and the trade balance with the military alliance leader is a significant driver of military spending. The greater the weight of trade with the military leader and the higher its trade surplus, the lower is the defense spending of the minor partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer remains a significant global public health challenge and is still one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in Argentina. This study aims to assess the disease and economic burden of lung cancer in the country. Burden of disease study. A mathematical model was developed to estimate the disease burden and direct medical cost attributable to lung cancer. Epidemiological parameters were obtained from local statistics, the Global Cancer Observatory, the Global Burden of Disease databases, and a literature review. Direct medical costs were estimated through micro-costing. Costs were expressed in US dollars (US$), April 2023 (1 US$ = 216.38 Argentine pesos). A second-order Monte Carlo simulation was performed to estimate the uncertainty. Considering approximately 10,000 deaths, 12,000 incident cases, and 14,000 5-year prevalent cases, the economic burden of lung cancer in Argentina in 2023 was estimated to be US$ 556.20 million (396.96–718.20), approximately 1.4% of the total healthcare expenditure for the country. The cost increased with a higher stage of the disease, and the main driver was drug acquisition (80%). A total of 179,046 disability-adjusted life years could be attributable to lung cancer, representing 10% of the total cancer. The disease and economic burden of lung cancer in Argentina implies a high cost for the health system and would represent 19% of the previously estimated economic burden for 29 cancers in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demands for public input on Olympic bids have made local referenda an increasingly common feature of the Olympic bid process. This case study advances our knowledge about the factors that lead local residents to support or oppose an Olympic bid by presenting the results of a representative survey of local residents at the time of an Olympic bid plebiscite in Calgary, Canada. Building on past research, five correlates of Olympic bid voting behavior are identified: sociodemographic characteristics, local civic identity, political partisanship, attitudes towards government spending, and local political leadership. While all five factors are related to support or opposition to the Olympic bid, civic identity and fiscal conservativism were particularly powerful predictors of preferences. The data suggest that pro-Olympic and anti-Olympic coalitions have an unusual character that challenge those involved in Olympic advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revisits the Buchanan-Wagner hypothesis in reference to the deficit-spending dynamics of Turkey in the period 1924 to 2008, during which the government was expanding along with the developing national economy and democracy. The empirical analysis of the hypothesis is based on the autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration, which is not only quite new in the literature on the Buchanan-Wagner hypothesis but also superior to other singleequation cointegration approaches. The prevailing empirics for the Buchanan-Wagner hypothesis reveal deficiencies in several respects, as they ignore the mixed orders of integration in regressors, the endogeneity of regressors, and the encompassing dynamic structure in the short- and long-runs. Within this context, the findings of this study imply the validity of the hypothesis for Turkey, providing empirical evidence on the premise that budget deficits financed by nontax sources are the main driving force behind the continuously increasing public spending in Turkey. This evidence is argued to be a reflection of the fact that the perceived tax price of public goods and services decreases with debt-financed budget deficits over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the growing trend of fiscal recentralization in Polish local finance, evident in the increase of intergovernmental transfers, leading to expanded budgetary expenditures, known as the "Flypaper Effect" (FPE). It aims to identify the causes and extent of the FPE in Polish municipalities and cities with county rights from 2010 to 2020, using descriptive and panel data analyses. Empirical research confirms the presence of the FPE in Polish local governments, more pronounced in rural municipalities than in urban counterparts and cities with county rights. The rise in public budgetary expenditures results from limited fiscal autonomy and the ongoing process of recentralization in public finance, further amplifying the FPE. The strength of the FPE varies depending on the specific types and characteristics of intergovernmental transfers. Additionally, the article highlights significant flaws in Poland's local funding legislation and its consequences, proposing potential paths for local finance reforms. In conclusion, it underscores the increasing trend of fiscal recentralization in Polish local finance driven by the FPE and emphasizes the pressing need for reforms to address these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to analyse the impact of Zakat distribution, inflation, consumption, and international trade on the economic growth of Indonesia using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) analysis. The VECM analysis comprises several tests, including the unit root test, stability test, cointegration test, and Granger causality test. This study found that consumption, exports, imports, and Zakat exert a favourable influence on economic growth; however, inflation has an adverse impact on economic growth. Zakat expenditure indicated a positive relationship with gross domestic product level in the long term. The results of the Granger causality test implied a two-way causal interconnection between Zakat expenditure and economic growth. Zakat can trigger the country's economic expansion by increasing consumption, investment, or government spending, and an increase in national income will encourage an increase in Zakat distribution. Moreover, the augmentation of national income will foster an upsurge in the distribution of Zakat. The future tax potential is immense because the total population of Indonesian Muslim residents in 2022 is predicted to be 241.7 million people, or the equivalent of an 87.02 per cent increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government budget constraint ties the market value of government debt to the expected present discounted value of fiscal surpluses. We find evidence that U.S. Treasury investors fail to impose this no‐arbitrage restriction in the United States. Both cyclical and long‐run dynamics of tax revenues and government spending make the surplus claim risky. In a realistic asset pricing model, this risk in surpluses creates a large gap between the market value of debt and its fundamental value, the PDV of surpluses, suggesting that U.S. Treasuries may be overpriced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of income disparity has long plagued South Africa because of the political environment that existed before the country's 1994 democratic transition. Based on the widely used Gini index, which gauges global inequality, the nation routinely has some of the highest rates of income disparity in the world. Income inequality in South Africa keeps rising even after a number of frameworks and policies have been put in place, which has a big influence on society. Thus, it is essential to comprehend the causes of income disparity and put suitable policies in place to remedy it. The purpose of this study is to look into the relationship between South Africa's income disparity and its determinants. Using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) approach, this study empirically examines the effects of government spending on social grants, gross savings, population growth, and economic growth on income inequality from 1975 to 2017. Data on the Gini index are sourced from the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID). Findings reveal a statistically significant negative correlation between government spending on social grants and income inequality. Moreover, income inequality demonstrates a negative relationship with both gross savings and economic growth. However, population growth exhibits a positive correlation with income inequality. This study highlights the significance of implementing a comprehensive strategy to address income inequality in South Africa. This strategy should involve augmenting government expenditure on social grants, cultivating a savings culture within households, and enacting policies that incentivize job creation, particularly in areas with rapid population growth. In addition to making a substantial contribution to the body of evidence already available on income disparity, this study offers insightful information to policymakers working to improve the socioeconomic climate in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy innovation plays an important role in the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Governments in IEA member countries are investing in the R&D, demonstration, and deployment of new energy technologies as part of their energy and climate policies. However, government subsidies for energy innovation are not always efficient in achieving climate policy goals. This paper proposes a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis model with shared inputs to determine the optimal allocation of public funds for the energy innovation process. The innovation process is divided into two stages: the R&D stage and the commercialization stage. The inputs to the model (budget expenditures for energy innovations) are distributed between the first and second stages. As intermediate products, we use the number of patents in clean energy and hydrocarbon energy. The outputs of the model are the changes in carbon intensity and energy efficiency. This model can be used to assess the effectiveness of government spending on energy innovation. The results show that some IEA member countries should allocate a large part of the fossil fuel technology budget (more than 70%) to the research and development phase. The proposed model can support decision making at the international level to increase the effectiveness of public policies in achieving decarbonization and energy efficiency goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a representative of potential "hidden champions", a concept originating in Germany, specialized and innovative Little Giant Enterprises (LGEs) have become exemplary models for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. These enterprises are regarded as crucial support for realizing the strategy of building a strong manufacturing country and addressing the weaknesses in key industrial areas. This paper begins by examining urban agglomerations, which serve as the main spatial carriers for industrial restructuring and high-quality development in manufacturing. Based on data from LGEs in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomerations from 2019 to 2023, the study employs the Random Forest (RF) and Multi-scale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) methods to conduct a comparative analysis of their spatial patterns and influencing factors. The results are as follows: (1) LGEs exhibit spatial clustering in both the YRD and PRD regions. Enterprises in the YRD form a "one-axis-three-core" pattern within a distance of 65 km, while enterprises in the PRD present a "single-axis" pattern within a distance of 30 km, with overall high clustering intensity. (2) The YRD is dominated by traditional manufacturing and supplemented by high-tech services. In contrast, the PRD has a balanced development of high-tech manufacturing and services. Enterprises in different industries are generally characterized by a "multi-point clustering" characteristic, of which the YRD displays a multi-patch distribution and the PRD a point–pole distribution. (3) Factors such as industrial structure, industrial platforms, and logistics levels significantly affect enterprise clustering and exhibit scale effects differences between the two urban clusters. Factors such as industrial platforms, logistics levels, and dependence on foreign trade show positive impacts, while government fiscal expenditure shows a negative impact. Natural geographical location factors exhibit opposite effects in the two regions but are not the primary determinants of enterprise distribution. Each region should leverage its own strengths, improve urban coordination and communication mechanisms within the urban cluster, strengthen the coordination and linkage of the manufacturing industry chain upstream and downstream, and promote high-tech industries, thereby enhancing economic resilience and regional competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a novel identification strategy to investigate whether regional universities make their local economies more resilient. Our strategy is based on state governments using similar site-selection criteria to assign normal schools (to train teachers) and insane asylums between 1830 and 1930. Normal schools became larger regional universities while asylum properties mostly continue as small state-owned psychiatric health facilities. We find that a regional university roughly offsets the negative effects of manufacturing exposure. We show the resilience of regional public university spending is an important mechanism, and we show correlations consistent with bachelor's degree share also playing a mediating role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates fiscal sustainability in Indonesia and draws comparisons with Malaysia and Thailand. The analysis encompasses an evaluation of fiscal rules, fiscal performance, and an assessment of fiscal sustainability across these three countries. Given that the Coronavirus Disease (COVID‐19) pandemic affected budget deficits in each country starting in 2020, the empirical assessment utilizes data from 2010 to 2019. Despite persistent fiscal deficits in each country, the results suggest that all three countries maintain fiscal sustainability. A more detailed analysis of the Indonesian case focuses on government revenue and expenditure. The discussion addresses challenges in these areas, aiming to identify feasible policy options for enhancing fiscal sustainability in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming remains one of the most topical issues in environmental debates because of its unimaginable ecological complications and threats to human existence. The determination to curtail the unwavering ravaging impacts of global warming motivates the 26th edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP26). Hence, this study examines explicitly how prominent factors discussed at COP26, such as technological innovation and green energy, will enhance the deliverance of the targets for Africa. While capturing environmental sustainability with CO2 emissions and ecological footprint, the empirical model endogenizes structural change, government expenditures and financial development from 1990 to 2018. The verification of stated hypotheses relies on the cross‐sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS‐ARDL) model, augmented mean group (AMG), common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) and method of moment quantile regression (MMQR) model. Our empirical results reveal that technological innovation, green energy and service‐led growth promote environmental sustainability by mitigating the surge in CO2 emissions and ecological footprint. Besides, government expenditures, financial development, agriculture and manufacturing hinder environmental sustainability. Policies that promote sustainable ecosystem in Africa are suggested based on empirical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Funding is critical to the attainment of Aspiration 1 of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063, which aims to promote inclusive growth and sustainable development. However, the funds required to meet these targets are not readily available in Africa. In Nigeria, constitutional provisions for revenue mobilization and public expenditure place restrictions on the foreign economic relations capabilities of non-central governments (NCGs) as well as undermine their capacity to raise the revenue required to meet development objectives. Against this background, this article reviews the strategies utilized by NCGs to overcome their fiscal powers–constitutional responsibilities mismatch and argues that in the context of the development imperatives subsumed in Aspiration 1, the strategies are counterproductive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of fiscal policy on economic activity is still a matter of great debate. And, ever since Keynes first commented on it, interwar Britain, 1918–39, has remained a particularly interesting and contentious case—not least because of its high-debt environment and turbulent business cycle. This debate has often focused on the effects of government spending, but little is known about the effects of tax changes. In fact, a number of tax reforms in the period focused on long-term and social objectives, often reflecting the personality of British Chancellors. Based on extensive historiographical research, we apply a narrative approach to the interwar period in Britain and isolate a new series of exogenous tax changes. We find that tax changes have a sizable effect on GDP, with multipliers exceeding 2 within two years. Our estimates provide new evidence on the effects of tax changes, contribute to the historical debate about fiscal policy in the interwar period and are also consistent with the sizable tax multipliers found after World War II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delves into the paradoxical nature of post-2008 fiscal policies, where there is a simultaneous emphasis on valuing public investment on the one hand, and maintaining austerity on the other. It sheds light on this paradox through the concept of "Investor State," which refers to contemporary states' ambition to redefine their role in the economy by no longer limiting themselves to a regulatory role but rather seeking an active role as "investor." We argue that this redefinition of the state's role is of piece with the elevation of investment as a new standard for legitimizing state actions. On the flipside, by making investment the main criteria of public policy legitimacy, it simultaneously delegitimizes spending that is not deemed an investment. Because the adopted economic definition of investment is limited to traditional "productive investment" related to industrial policy, other policy sectors—that is the majority of state intervention—are subject to spending cuts. Thus the Investor State suggests an evolution of the fiscal order that Streeck described as the "consolidation state": the primary goal is no longer to reduce public debt and deficits. But the neoliberal objective to reduce the "size" of the public sector in the economy absolutely remains. Drawing on the case of France, the article shows how the right-wing government started placing investment at the core of its fiscal policy after 2008. The article then highlights the continuation of this dual fiscal policy discourse to date despite changes in government leadership and the pandemic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a randomized experiment (across 200 public primary schools in Puebla, Mexico) to study the impact of providing schools with cash grants on student test scores. Treated schools received on average ∼$$ \sim $$16 USD per student each year for two years, an increase of ∼$$ \sim $$20% in public spending per child, after teacher salaries. Overall, the grants had no impact on student test scores. Lack of a treatment effect does not seem to be driven by poor implementation or a substitution away from other inputs (e.g. household expenditure). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether the public provision of positional goods can be a sensible instrument to address inefficiencies arising from relative-standing externalities associated with the excessive consumption of such goods. In situations where consumers face a discrete choice between a private and a public alternative, providing the latter for free or at a subsidized rate generates incentives to opt for the public alternative. This allows to reduce excessive consumption. We show that such policies can increase welfare and characterize situations where they can even implement efficiency. Efficiency can typically be achieved if the non-positional utility component is sufficiently important. Moreover, we investigate how the public provision of positional goods may be a useful policy instrument in second-best situations, where either the government is constrained to rely on distortionary taxes, or where it redistributes facing information constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the size, behavior, and responsible factors behind the balance of payments (BOP) problems in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2020. Since the impact of the real indicators on the BOP of Afghanistan still remains unexplored, this article comprehensively analyzes the primary responsible factors for the BOP problems in Afghanistan. First, a comprehensive critical analysis of the BOP and its components is performed. Second, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is conducted to empirically scrutinize the influence of fiscal policy variables like government spending (GEX), tax on international trade (TIT), external debt (EXD), and GDP on the BOP. The empirical results revealed that GDP has a significantly positive impact on Afghanistan's BOP in the long run, whereas the influence of GEX on the BOP is significantly negative. Furthermore, it was found that TIT and EXD have insignificant association with BOP. Although there is a meaningful convergence towards long-run equilibrium with an adjustment speed of 94.95% in each period, none of the covariates has a significant effect on the BOP in the short run. Furthermore, the Granger causality test exposed a bidirectional causality between GEX and BOP and a one-way causation from GDP to BOP. The study recommends structural changes in the economy to increase domestic production and improvements in the composition and direction of exports and imports, redirect government spending in favor of domestic producers, and source external debt with improved debt conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]