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Are bigger governments better providers of public goods? Evidence from air pollution

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  • Thomas Bernauer
  • Vally Koubi

Abstract

Theories explaining government size and its consequences are of two varieties. The first portrays government as a provider of public goods and a corrector of externalities. The second associates larger governments with bureaucratic inefficiency and special-interest-group influence. What distinguishes these alternatives is that only in the former is governmental expansion generally associated with an increase in social welfare. In the latter, the link between government size and public goods provision (or social welfare) is negative. We study the empirical significance of these competing claims by examining the relationship between government size and a particular public good, namely environmental quality (notably, air quality measured by SO 2 concentrations), for 42 countries over the period 1971–1996. We find that the relationship is negative, even after accounting for the quality of government (quality of bureaucracy and the level of corruption). This result may not prove conclusively that the growth of government has been driven by factors other than concern for the public good, but it creates a presumption against the theory of government size that emphasizes public good provision. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

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  • Thomas Bernauer & Vally Koubi, 2013. "Are bigger governments better providers of public goods? Evidence from air pollution," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 593-609, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:156:y:2013:i:3:p:593-609
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-012-9916-1
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    8. Adewuyi, Adeolu O., 2016. "Effects of public and private expenditures on environmental pollution: A dynamic heterogeneous panel data analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 489-506.
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    10. Hassan F. Gholipour & Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2018. "Institutions and the effectiveness of expenditures on environmental protection: evidence from Middle Eastern countries," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 20-39, March.
    11. Fenfen Shi & Rijia Ding & Heqing Li & Suli Hao, 2022. "Environmental Regulation, Digital Financial Inclusion, and Environmental Pollution: An Empirical Study Based on the Spatial Spillover Effect and Panel Threshold Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-28, June.
    12. Lu, Hongyou & Xu, Wenli & Xu, Kun, 2016. "How to Make The Fiscal policies Greener in China?——Based on The Perspective of Environmental Macroeconomics," MPRA Paper 70221, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Vu, Trung V., 2020. "Individualism and climate change policies: International evidence," MPRA Paper 98888, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Chan, Ying Tung, 2020. "Are macroeconomic policies better in curbing air pollution than environmental policies? A DSGE approach with carbon-dependent fiscal and monetary policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    15. Danny García Callejas, 2015. "Voting for the environment: the importance of Democracy and education in Latin America," Revista de Economía del Caribe 14782, Universidad del Norte.
    16. Yingya Yang & Yun Tian & Xuhui Peng & Minhao Yin & Wei Wang & Haiwen Yang, 2022. "Research on Environmental Governance, Local Government Competition, and Agricultural Carbon Emissions under the Goal of Carbon Peak," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, October.
    17. George Halkos & Aksel Sundström & Nickolaos Tzeremes, 2015. "Regional environmental performance and governance quality: a nonparametric analysis," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 17(4), pages 621-644, October.
    18. Muhammad Haroon Shah & Nianyong Wang & Irfan Ullah & Ahsan Akbar & Karamat Khan & Kebba Bah, 2021. "Does environment quality and public spending on environment promote life expectancy in China? Evidence from a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 545-560, March.
    19. Wen-Lin Wu, 2017. "Institutional Quality and Air Pollution: International Evidence," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 16(1), pages 49-74, June.
    20. Fredriksson, Per G. & Neumayer, Eric, 2013. "Democracy and climate change policies: Is history important?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 11-19.
    21. Chun-Ping Chang & Minyi Dong & Jiliang Liu, 2019. "Environmental Governance and Environmental Performance," Working Papers id:13023, eSocialSciences.
    22. Halkos, George E. & Paizanos, Epameinondas Α., 2016. "The effects of fiscal policy on CO2 emissions: Evidence from the U.S.A," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 317-328.
    23. Huynh, Cong Minh & Le, Quoc Nha & Lam, Thi Huong Tra, 2023. "Is air pollution a government failure or a market failure? Global evidence from a multi-dimensional analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

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