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Social Sector Spending in a Panel of Countries
Author:
Reza Baqirnull

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Series:
IMF Working Papers
Volume/Issue:
Volume 2002: Issue 035
Language:
English
Publication Date:
01 Feb 2002
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451845365.001
ISBN:
9781451845365
ISSN:
1018-5941
Pages:
53
Keywords:
WP; central government; country democracy rating; total spending; government spending; social sectors; democracy; sector spending; democracy index; IMF country document; country effect; spending data; per capita income; time series; province government; standard deviation; Total expenditures; Education spending; Health care spending; Global
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IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
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This paper presents evidence on the political and economic determinants of social sector spending from a panel dataset. The principal finding is that democratization in countries, as measured by within-country variation in subjective indices of democracy, is a significant predictor of government spending on education and health. The relationship is robust to controlling for a variety of factors and the estimated magnitudes suggest that an increase from the lowest to the highest rating for democracy for a country is associated with approximately 1 percent more central government spending and 3 percent more general government spending in social sectors, as a percent of GDP.
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Cover IMF Working Papers
IMF Working Papers
ISSN:
1018-5941
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund
Volume 2002: Issue 035