Is Social Spending Procyclical?
Author:
Mr. Sanjeev Gupta
Search for other papers by Mr. Sanjeev Gupta in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Alejandro Hajdenberg
Search for other papers by Alejandro Hajdenberg in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
, and
Mr. Javier Arze del Granado
Search for other papers by Mr. Javier Arze del Granado in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
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.
  • Collapse
  • Expand
IMF Working Papers