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Business and Economics > Public Finance

You are looking at 1 - 4 of 4 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Health, Education, and Welfare: General x
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Cover Selected Issues Papers
Social Spending and Outcomes in Madagascar: Republic of Madagascar
Samah Mazraani
The paper examines Madagascar's education, health, and social assistance spending and outcomes. Government spending on education is relatively low compared to peers, and the quality of education has deteriorated. The paper recommends allocating more resources to the sector, ensuring transparent and merit-based teacher recruitment mechanisms, and strengthening teacher training and incentives. Health spending is also low, and the health system faces challenges in malnutrition, immunization, and service delivery. Additional domestic resources and large-scale structural reforms are needed. Social safety net programs have limited coverage and low spending, and expanding them should be a top priority to reduce poverty and support vulnerable populations.
Keywords:
Social spending; Education; Health; Social Protection; Poverty; Madagascar; health system faces challenge; government health spending; commitment process; government education spending; recruitment mechanism; teacher training; Social assistance spending; Education spending; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Income Inequality in Small States and the Caribbean: Stylized Facts and Determinants
Arnold McIntyre
,
Mr. Takuji Komatsuzaki
, and
Mr. Mauricio Vargas
Rising income inequality has emerged as a major policy issue facing policymakers, but there is a dearth of empirical work on inequality in small states, including the Caribbean. Despite data limitations, the empirical analysis using a sample of small states finds that increased openness and deeper economic integration including financial market openness is associated with lower income inequality, whereas elevated debt levels limit fiscal space and are associated with higher income inequality. An important policy implication is that well targeted social sector spending aimed at improving education and health indicators will support increased redistribution and reduce income inequality.
Keywords:
Small States; economic development; globalization; Gini at market income; absolute redistribution and income redistribution policies.; WP; market Gini coefficient; redistribution policy; market income; FDI inflow; Caribbean dummy variable; idiosyncratic income shock
Cover IMF Working Papers
Is Social Spending Procyclical?
Mr. Sanjeev Gupta
,
Alejandro Hajdenberg
, and
Mr. Javier Arze del Granado
This paper studies the cyclical behavior of public spending on health and education in 150 countries during 1987 - 2007. It finds that spending on education and health is procyclical in developing countries and acyclical in developed countries. In addition, education and health expenditures follow an asymmetric pattern in developing countries; they are procyclical during periods of positive output gap and acyclical during periods of negative output gap. Furthermore, the degree of cyclicality is higher the lower the level of economic development.
Keywords:
WP; developing country; expenditure share; output gap
Cover IMF Working Papers
Expenditure Issues and Governance in Central America
Ms. Ana Corbacho
and
Mr. Hamid R Davoodi
This paper analyzes Central America's track record on inequality, poverty, and quality of fiscal adjustment in relation to economic growth; health and education outcomes; adequacy of social safety nets; and governance. It then assesses the degree to which the track record can be traced to reforms in public expenditure and governance. Despite the considerable heterogeneity among the countries in the region, there are some policies that all countries need to pursue. Sustained growth and a better quality of fiscal adjustment are needed, as well as policies aimed at increasing individuals' productivity and improving governance.
Keywords:
WP; public spending; wage; government; Honduras; Expenditure issues; fiscal adjustment; poverty; inequality; health; education; social safety nets; governance; Central America; teacher wage; government education spending; wage bill; teacher certification test; per capita income; Central American country; growth track record; capital investment; teachers' wage; teacher quality; management system; lagging country; Income inequality; Health care spending; Sub-Saharan Africa; South Asia; East Asia