This paper examines social sector expenditures in fifteen Indian states between 1980/81 and 1999/2000 to find out whether the far-reaching economic reforms that began in 1991 had any significant impact on the level and trend of these expenditures; and if there was any such impact, what were the reasons behind the ensuing changes. The empirical analysis in this study shows that revenue became a major determinant of social sector expenditures from the mid 1980s with the result that real per capita social sector expenditures in most states started to decline even before the economic reforms began as states' fiscal deficits worsened in the 1980s. Economic reforms, therefore, largely did not have a major negative impact on expenditures. In fact there was a positive impact on some states, which often were those that received more foreign aid than other states. By the late 1990s, states expending more on the social sector changed from states with a traditionally strong commitment to the social sector, such as Kerala, to states having higher revenues including aid from outside the country.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) in its series IDE Discussion Papers with number
31.
Length: Date of creation: Jun 2005 Date of revision: Publication status: Published in IDE Discussion Paper. No. 31. 2005.6 Handle: RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper31
Find related papers by JEL classification: H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: