IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sek/iacpro/9912043.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The link between government expenditure and debt as potential drivers of economic growth in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • ABIGAIL STIGLINGH

    (NORTH-WEST UNIVERSITY)

  • LERATO MOTHIBI

    (NORTH-WEST UNIVERSITY)

Abstract

The financial burden of public debt in the lives of South Africans has undergone considerable change and continues to evolve since the beginning of democracy in 1994. Many countries, specifically the OCED countries have experienced expanding levels of debt to GDP ratio since the global financial crises in 2008/2009, where South Africa?s gross debt ratio averaged 44.8% in 2017. Making use of the autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL), the study utilises data from 1980 to 2017 in order to investigate the relationship between government expenditure and debt as potential drivers of economic growth. Furthermore, the study?s aim is to identify weather or not government expenditure and debt could be identified as positive or negative contributors towards economic growth in South Africa. The study further seeks to identify the link between government expenditure and debt since, government expenditure in South Africa has diligently surpassed its revenue, where the deficit is in most cases is funded through the accumulation of unsustainable debt. The findings of the study reveal a negative relationship between economic growth and government expenditure. In addition, the study also reveals a positive relationship between economic growth and government debt. This therefore indicates the need for stricter government expenditure and debt management policies, as unsustainable debt levels and unregulated government expenditure could be detrimental for the South African economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Abigail Stiglingh & Lerato Mothibi, 2019. "The link between government expenditure and debt as potential drivers of economic growth in South Africa," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9912043, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:sek:iacpro:9912043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://iises.net/proceedings/international-academic-conference-barcelona/table-of-content/detail?cid=99&iid=059&rid=12043
    File Function: First version, 2019
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alberto Alesina & Guido Tabellini, 2007. "Bureaucrats or Politicians? Part I: A Single Policy Task," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 169-179, March.
    2. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    3. Eberhardt, Markus & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2015. "Public debt and growth: Heterogeneity and non-linearity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 45-58.
    4. Johansen, Soren & Juselius, Katarina, 1990. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Inference on Cointegration--With Applications to the Demand for Money," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 52(2), pages 169-210, May.
    5. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    6. Alesina, Alberto & Tabellini, Guido, 2008. "Bureaucrats or politicians? Part II: Multiple policy tasks," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3-4), pages 426-447, April.
    7. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2008. "Persistence of Power, Elites, and Institutions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 267-293, March.
    8. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    9. Anisul Islam, 2001. "Wagner's law revisited: cointegration and exogeneity tests for the USA," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(8), pages 509-515.
    10. Anderson, Gary M. & Tollison, Robert D., 1986. "Ricardo on the Public Debt: Principle Versus Practice," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(01), pages 49-58, June.
    11. Andreas Nastansky & Alexander Mehnert & Hans Gerhard Strohe, 2014. "A Vector Error Correction Model for the Relationship between Public Debt and Inflation in Germany," Statistische Diskussionsbeiträge 51, Universität Potsdam, Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    12. Arthur A. Goldsmith, 1995. "The State, The Market and Economic Development: A Second Look at Adam Smith in Theory and Practice," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 26(4), pages 633-650, October.
    13. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Swaroop, Vinaya & Heng-fu, Zou, 1996. "The composition of public expenditure and economic growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 313-344, April.
    14. Kelbesa Megersa & Danny Cassimon, 2015. "Public Debt, Economic Growth, and Public Sector Management in Developing Countries: Is There a Link?," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(5), pages 329-346, December.
    15. Panagiotis Pegkas, 2018. "The Effect of Government Debt and Other Determinants on Economic Growth: The Greek Experience," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, February.
    16. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 1996. "Cointegration and speed of convergence to equilibrium," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 117-143.
    17. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    18. Meniago, Christelle & Mukuddem-Petersen, Janine & Petersen, Mark A. & Mongale, Itumeleng P., 2013. "What causes household debt to increase in South Africa?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 482-492.
    19. Aart Kraay & Vikram Nehru, 2006. "When Is External Debt Sustainable?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 20(3), pages 341-365.
    20. Alfonso ARPAIA & Alessandro TURRINI, 2008. "Government Expenditure and Economic Growth in the EU: Long-Run Tendencies and Short-Term Adjustment," EcoMod2008 23800006, EcoMod.
    21. José Augusto Lopes da Veiga & Alexandra Ferreira-Lopes & Tiago Neves Sequeira, 2016. "Public Debt, Economic Growth and Inflation in African Economies," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 84(2), pages 294-322, June.
    22. John Thornton, 1999. "Cointegration, causality and Wagner's Law in 19th century Europe," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(7), pages 413-416.
    23. Mahmoud Wahab, 2004. "Economic growth and government expenditure: evidence from a new test specification," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(19), pages 2125-2135.
    24. Akitoby, Bernardin & Clements, Benedict & Gupta, Sanjeev & Inchauste, Gabriela, 2006. "Public spending, voracity, and Wagner's law in developing countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 908-924, December.
    25. Durham, J.B.J. Benson, 2004. "Absorptive capacity and the effects of foreign direct investment and equity foreign portfolio investment on economic growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 285-306, April.
    26. Thobeka Ncanywa & Marius Mamokgaetji Masoga, 2018. "Can public debt stimulate public investment and economic growth in South Africa?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 1516483-151, January.
    27. Lefteris Tsoulfidis, 2007. "Classical economists and public debt," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 54(1), pages 1-12, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thobeka Ncanywa & Marius Mamokgaetji Masoga, 2018. "Can public debt stimulate public investment and economic growth in South Africa?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 1516483-151, January.
    2. Magazzino, Cosimo, 2012. "Wagner versus Keynes: Public spending and national income in Italy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 890-905.
    3. Saungweme, Talknice & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2020. "The Impact of Domestic and Foreign Public Debt on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Zimbabwe," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 73(1), pages 77-106.
    4. Magazzino, Cosimo, 2010. "Wagner's law and augmented Wagner's law in EU-27. A time-series analysis on stationarity, cointegration and causality," MPRA Paper 26668, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Omoshoro-Jones, Oyeyinka Sunday, 2016. "A Cointegration and Causality Test on Government Expenditure –Economic Growth Nexus: Empirical Evidence from a South African Province," MPRA Paper 102085, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 17 Oct 2017.
    6. V. Chandran Govindaraju & Ramesh Rao & Sajid Anwar, 2011. "Economic growth and government spending in Malaysia: a re-examination of Wagner and Keynesian views," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 203-219, August.
    7. Saungweme, Talknice & Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2019. "Relative impact of domestic and foreign public debt on economic growth in South Africa," Working Papers 25664, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    8. Philip Arestis & Hüseyin Şen & Ayşe Kaya, 2021. "On the linkage between government expenditure and output: empirics of the Keynesian view versus Wagner’s law," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 265-303, May.
    9. Sin-Yu Ho & Bernard Njindan Iyke, 2020. "The Determinants of Economic Growth in Ghana: New Empirical Evidence," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(3), pages 626-644, June.
    10. Köppl-Turyna, Monika & Lorenz, Hanno, 2016. "Demand-side economics in times of high debt: The case of the European Union," Working Papers 02, Agenda Austria.
    11. Garikai Makuyana & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Public and private investment and economic growth in Malawi: an ARDL-bounds testing approach," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 673-689, January.
    12. Guerini, Mattia & Moneta, Alessio & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea, 2020. "The Janus-Faced Nature Of Debt: Results From A Data-Driven Cointegrated Svar Approach," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 24-54, January.
    13. Saungweme, Talknice & Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2019. "Causality between public debt, public debt service and economic growth: Evidence from South Africa," Working Papers 25745, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    14. Talknice Saungweme & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Does Public Debt Impact Economic Growth in Zambia? An Ardl-Bounds Testing Approach," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 69(4), pages 53-73, October-D.
    15. Khatai Aliyev & Orkhan Nadirov, 2016. "How Fiscal Policy Affects Non-Oil Economic Performance in Azerbaijan?," Academic Journal of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 2(3), pages 11-29, September.
    16. Lau, Evan & Moll de Alba, Jaime & Liew, Kim-Hing, 2022. "Debt and economic growth in Asian developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 599-612.
    17. Ergin Akalpler, 2023. "Triggering economic growth to ensure financial stability: case study of Northern Cyprus," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-40, December.
    18. Bibhuti Sarker & Farid Khan, 2020. "Nexus between foreign direct investment and economic growth in Bangladesh: an augmented autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, December.
    19. Magazzino, Cosimo, 2011. "The nexus between public expenditure and inflation in the Mediterranean countries," MPRA Paper 28493, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Aimola, Akingbade U & Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2021. "Public debt and inflation: Empirical evidence from Ghana," Working Papers 27063, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ARDL model; economic growth; government expenditure; debt.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D00 - Microeconomics - - General - - - General
    • C01 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Econometrics
    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sek:iacpro:9912043. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klara Cermakova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://iises.net/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.