IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/eptddp/99.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Public spending in developing countries: trends, determination, and impact

Author

Listed:
  • Fan, Shenggen
  • Rao, Neetha

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to review trends in government expenditures in the developing world, to analyze the causes of change, and to develop an analytical framework for determining the differential impacts of various government expenditures on economic growth. Contrary to common belief, it is found that structural adjustment programs increased the size of government spending, but not all sectors received equal treatment. As a share of total government spending, expenditures on agriculture, education, and infrastructure in Africa; on agricultural and health in Asia; and on education and infrastructure in Latin America, all declined as a result of the structural adjustment programs. The impact of various types of government spending on economic growth is mixed. In Africa, government spending on agriculture and health was particularly strong in promoting economic growth. Asia's investments in agriculture, education, and defense had positive growth-promoting effects. However, all types of government spending except health were statistically insignificant in Latin America. Structural adjustment programs promoted growth in Asia and Latin America, but not in Africa. Growth in agricultural production is most crucial for poverty alleviation in rural areas. Agricultural spending, irrigation, education, and roads all contributed strongly to this growth. Disaggregating total agricultural expenditures into research and non-research spending reveals that research had a much larger impact on productivity than non-research spending.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Shenggen & Rao, Neetha, 2003. "Public spending in developing countries: trends, determination, and impact," EPTD discussion papers 99, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:eptddp:99
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/65974/filename/65975.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shenggen Fan & Peter Hazell & Sukhadeo Thorat, 2000. "Government Spending, Growth and Poverty in Rural India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(4), pages 1038-1051.
    2. Pardey, Philip G. & Roseboom, Johannes & Beintema, Nienke M., 1997. "Investments in african agricultural research," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 409-423, March.
    3. Vito Tanzi & Howell H. Zee, 1997. "Fiscal Policy and Long-Run Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(2), pages 179-209, June.
    4. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    5. Fan, Shenngen & Hazell, Peter & Haque, T., 2000. "Targeting public investments by agro-ecological zone to achieve growth and poverty alleviation goals in rural India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 411-428, August.
    6. Trish Kelly, 1997. "Public expenditures and growth," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 60-84.
    7. 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.
    8. Malcolm Knight & Norman Loayza & Delano Villanueva, 1996. "The Peace Dividend: Military Spending Cuts and Economic Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 43(1), pages 1-37, March.
    9. Pardey, Philip G. & Beintema, Nienke M., 2001. "Slow magic: agricultural R&D a century after Mendel," Food policy statements 36, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Fan, Shenggen & Zhang, Linxiu & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2000. "Growth and poverty in rural China: the role of public investments," EPTD discussion papers 66, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Lindauer, David L & Velenchik, Ann D, 1992. "Government Spending in Developing Countries: Trends, Causes, and Consequences," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 7(1), pages 59-78, January.
    12. Rao, M. Govinda, 1998. "Accommodating public expenditure policies: the case of fast growing Asian economies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 673-694, April.
    13. Jonakin, Jon & Stephens, Mark, 1999. "The impact of adjustment and stabilization policies on infrastructure spending in Central America," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 293-308.
    14. Elías, Victor Jorge, 1985. "Government expenditures on agriculture and agricultural growth in Latin America:," Research reports 50, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. James Gwartney & Randal Holcombe & Robert Lawson, 1998. "The Scope of Government and the Wealth of Nations," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 18(2), pages 163-190, Fall.
    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. Facchini, François & Melki, Mickaël, 2013. "Efficient government size: France in the 20th century," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Yu, Bingxin & Fan, Shenggen & Saurkar, Anuja, 2009. "Does Composition of Government Spending Matter to Economic Growth?," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51684, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Folster, Stefan & Henrekson, Magnus, 1999. "Growth and the public sector: a critique of the critics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 337-358, June.
    4. Mr. Hyun Park, 2006. "Expenditure Composition and Distortionary Tax for Equitable Economic Growth," IMF Working Papers 2006/165, International Monetary Fund.
    5. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:8:y:2007:i:4:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Fic, Tatiana & Ghate, Chetan, 2005. "The welfare state, thresholds, and economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 571-598, May.
    7. Alptekin, Aynur & Levine, Paul, 2012. "Military expenditure and economic growth: A meta-analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 636-650.
    8. Facchini, François & Melki, Mickaël, 2013. "Efficient government size: France in the 20th century," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-14.
    9. Fedderke, J.W. & Perkins, P. & Luiz, J.M., 2006. "Infrastructural investment in long-run economic growth: South Africa 1875-2001," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1037-1059, June.
    10. Jung, Suhyun & Cho, Seong-Hoon & Roberts, Roland K., 2009. "Public Expenditure and Poverty Reduction in the Southern United States," 2009 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2009, Atlanta, Georgia 47145, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    11. Gupta, Sanjeev & Clements, Benedict & Baldacci, Emanuele & Mulas-Granados, Carlos, 2005. "Fiscal policy, expenditure composition, and growth in low-income countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 441-463, April.
    12. Pula Leke & Elshani Alban, 2018. "The Relationship Between Public Expenditure and Economic Growth in Kosovo: Findings from a Johansen Co-Integrated Test and a Granger Causality Test," Ekonomika (Economics), Sciendo, vol. 97(1), pages 47-62, January.
    13. Óscar Bajo Rubio & Carmen Díaz Roldán & M.a Dolores Montávez Garcés, "undated". "Fiscal Policy And Growth Revisited: The Case Of The Spanish Regions," Working Papers 19-02 Classification-JEL , Instituto de Estudios Fiscales.
    14. Santiago Lago-Peñas & Bruno Ventelou, 2006. "The Effects of Regional Sizing on Growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 407-427, June.
    15. Cosmin Enache, 2009. "Fiscal Policy And Economic Growth In Romania," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(11), pages 1-50.
    16. Ghate, Chetan, 2001. "Lobbying, the Composition of Government Expenditures, and the Politics of Fiscal Policy," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 133-145, June.
    17. Norman Gemmell, 2001. "Fiscal Policy in a Growth Framework," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2001-84, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Richard Kneller & Norman Gemmell, 2002. "Fiscal Policy, Growth and Convergence in Europe," European Economy Group Working Papers 14, European Economy Group.
    19. Halkos, George & Paizanos, Epameinondas, 2015. "Fiscal policy and economic performance: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature," MPRA Paper 67737, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Hazell, P. B. R. & Haddad, Lawrence James, 2001. "Agricultural research and poverty reduction:," 2020 vision discussion papers 34, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    21. Heinz Handler & Margit Schratzenstaller, 2006. "Teilstudie 7: Die Rolle des Staates," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 27446, Juni.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty alleviation; Government spending policy; Structural adjustment (Economic policy);
    All these keywords.

    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:fpr:eptddp:99. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifprius.html .

    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.