IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wus009/516.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Size of the Government and Economic Growth. An Empirical Study of Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Herath, Shanaka

Abstract

The new growth theory establishes, among other things, that government expenditure can manipulate economic growth of a country. This study attempts to explain whether government expenditure increases or decreases economic growth in the context of Sri Lanka. Results obtained applying an analytical framework based on time series and second degree polynomial regressions are generally consistent with previous findings: government expenditure and economic growth are positively correlated; excessive government expenditure is negatively correlated with economic growth; and an open economy promotes growth. In a separate section, the paper examines Armey's (1995) idea of a quadratic curve that explains the level of government expenditure in an economy and the corresponding level of economic growth. The findings confirm the possibility of constructing the Armey curve for Sri Lanka, and it estimates the optimal level of government expenditure to be approximately 27 per cent. This paper adds to the literature indicating that the Armey curve is a reality not only for developed economies, but also for developing economies.(author's abstract)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Herath, Shanaka, 2009. "The Size of the Government and Economic Growth. An Empirical Study of Sri Lanka," SRE-Discussion Papers 2009/08, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wus009:516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://epub.wu.ac.at/516/
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "A Cross-Country Study of Growth, Saving, and Government," NBER Chapters, in: National Saving and Economic Performance, pages 271-304, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Stephen M. Miller & Frank S. Russek, 1997. "Fiscal Structures and Economic Growth at the State and Local Level," Public Finance Review, , vol. 25(2), pages 213-237, March.
    4. Eric M. Engen & Jonathan Skinner, 1992. "Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 4223, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Arthur Grimes, 2003. "Economic Growth and the Size and Structure of Government: Implications for New Zealand," Working Papers 03_10, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    6. Folster, Stefan & Henrekson, Magnus, 2001. "Growth effects of government expenditure and taxation in rich countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1501-1520, August.
    7. Vito Tanzi & Howell H. Zee, 1997. "Fiscal Policy and Long-Run Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(2), pages 179-209, June.
    8. Bağdigen, Muhlis & Çetintaş, Hakan, 2003. "Causality between Public Expenditure and Economic Growth: The Turkish Case," MPRA Paper 8576, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Dec 2003.
    9. Matthew Higgins & Andrew Young & Daniel Levy, 2009. "Federal, state, and local governments: evaluating their separate roles in US growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 493-507, June.
    10. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    11. Hansson, Par & Henrekson, Magnus, 1994. "A New Framework for Testing the Effect of Government Spending on Growth and Productivity," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 81(3-4), pages 381-401, December.
    12. Hodrick, Robert J & Prescott, Edward C, 1997. "Postwar U.S. Business Cycles: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16, February.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Arief Ramayandi, 2003. "Economic Growth And Government Size In Indonesia: Some Lessons For The Local Authorities," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 200302, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Jul 2003.
    16. Rebelo, Sergio, 1991. "Long-Run Policy Analysis and Long-Run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 500-521, June.
    17. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    18. 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.
    19. Philip Grossman, 1988. "Government and economic growth: A non-linear relationship," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 193-200, February.
    20. Miller, Stephen M & Russek, Frank S, 1997. "Fiscal Structures and Economic Growth: International Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 603-613, July.
    21. Kneller, Richard & Bleaney, Michael F. & Gemmell, Norman, 1999. "Fiscal policy and growth: evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 171-190, November.
    22. Shantayanan Devarajan & Vinaya Swaroop & Heng-fu Zou, 1993. "What do governments buy?," CEMA Working Papers 513, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    23. Kormendi, Roger C & Meguire, Philip G, 1995. "Government Debt, Government Spending, and Private-Sector Behavior: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1357-1361, December.
    24. Carr, Jack L, 1989. "Government Size and Economic Growth: A New Framework and Some Evidence from Cross-Section and Time-Series Data: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 267-271, March.
    25. Chen, Sheng-Tung & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2005. "Government size and economic growth in Taiwan: A threshold regression approach," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1051-1066, December.
    26. Arthur Grimes, 2003. "Economic growth and the size & structure of government: Implications for New Zealand," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 151-174.
    27. Giavazzi, Francesco & Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco, 2000. "Searching for non-linear effects of fiscal policy: Evidence from industrial and developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1259-1289, June.
    28. Osmani, S R, 1994. "Economic Reform and Social Welfare: The Case of Nutrition in Sri Lanka," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 291-296, May.
    29. Paul Cashin, 1995. "Government Spending, Taxes, and Economic Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 42(2), pages 237-269, June.
    30. Kormendi, Roger C, 1983. "Government Debt, Government Spending, and Private Sector Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 994-1010, December.
    31. Grier, Kevin B. & Tullock, Gordon, 1989. "An empirical analysis of cross-national economic growth, 1951-1980," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 259-276, September.
    32. Kormendi, Roger C. & Meguire, Philip G., 1985. "Macroeconomic determinants of growth: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 141-163, September.
    33. Dar, Atul A. & AmirKhalkhali, Sal, 2002. "Government size, factor accumulation, and economic growth: evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 24(7-8), pages 679-692, November.
    34. Landau, Daniel, 1986. "Government and Economic Growth in the Less Developed Countries: An Empirical Study for 1960-1980," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 35-75, October.
    35. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Swaroop, Vinaya & Heng-fu Zou, 1993. "What do governments buy? The composition of public spending and economic performance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1082, The World Bank.
    36. Edmund J. Sheehey, 1993. "The Effect of Government Size on Economic Growth," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 321-328, Summer.
    37. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    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. Milan Eliskovski, 2018. "Investigating credit transmission mechanism in the Republic of Macedonia: evidence from Vector Error Correction Model," Working Papers 2018-02, National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia.
    3. Wanjuu Zungwe Lazarus & Hlalefang Khobai & Pierre Le Roux, 2017. "Government Size and Economic Growth in Africa and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Countries," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(4), pages 628-637.
    4. Selvanathan, Eliyathamby A. & Selvanathan, Saroja & Jayasinghe, Maneka Savithri, 2021. "Revisiting Wagner’s and Keynesian’s propositions and the relationship between sectoral government expenditure and economic growth," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 355-370.
    5. Hüseyin Şen & Ayşe Kaya & Ayşegül Durucan, 2023. "New insights into the growth-maximizing size of government: evidence and implications for Turkey," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2243-2296, August.
    6. 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.
    7. R.A.Susantha Kumara Ranasinghe & Ichihashi Masaru, 2014. "The Composition of Government Expenditure and Economic Growth : The Case of Sri Lanka," IDEC DP2 Series 4-7, Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC).
    8. Cosimo Magazzino, 2014. "Government Size and Economic Growth in Italy: An Empirical Analyses Based On New Data (1861-2008)," International Journal of Empirical Finance, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 3(2), pages 38-54.
    9. LONZO LUBU, Gastonfils, 2014. "Taille Optimale De L’Etat En Rd Congo [Optimal Size Of Government In The Democratic Republic Of Congo]," MPRA Paper 60715, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Shanaka Herath, 2012. "Size Of Government And Economic Growth: A Nonlinear Analysis," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 57(194), pages 7-30, July - Se.
    2. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Mehmet Ugur & Siew Ling Yew, 2017. "Does Government Size Affect Per-Capita Income Growth? A Hierarchical Meta-Regression Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(300), pages 142-171, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Pula Lekë & Elshani Alban, 2018. "Role of Public Expenditure in Economic Growth: Econometric Evidence from Kosovo 2002–2015," Baltic Journal of Real Estate Economics and Construction Management, Sciendo, vol. 6(1), pages 74-87, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Dimitrios Paparas & Christian Richter, 2015. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: Empirical evidence from the European Union," Working Papers 2015.06, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    7. Norman Gemmell, 2001. "Fiscal Policy in a Growth Framework," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2001-84, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. 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.
    9. Menescal, Lucas & Alves, José, 2024. "Optimal threshold taxation: An empirical investigation for developing economies," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    10. Giuseppe Di Liddo & Cosimo Magazzino & Francesco Porcelli, 2015. "Decentralization, Growth And Optimal Government Size In The Italian Regional Framework," Working Papers 0115, CREI Università degli Studi Roma Tre, revised 2015.
    11. Hüseyin Şen & Ayşe Kaya & Ayşegül Durucan, 2023. "New insights into the growth-maximizing size of government: evidence and implications for Turkey," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2243-2296, August.
    12. Amal MATALLAH & Amal MATALLAH, 2017. "Does fiscal policy spur economic growth? Empirical evidence from Algeria," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(3(612), A), pages 125-146, Autumn.
    13. Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, Victoria, 2002. "Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Fiscal Policies on Long-Run Growth," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 02-028/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 23 Apr 2003.
    14. ZAREEN, SHUMAILA & Qayyum, Abdul, 2014. "An Analysis of the Impact of Government Size on Economic Growth of Pakistan: An Endogenous Growth," MPRA Paper 85426, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    15. Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger, 2007. "WIFO-Weißbuch: Wachstumsimpulse durch die öffentliche Hand," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 80(6), pages 509-526, June.
    16. Dimitrios PAPARAS & Christian RICHTER & Alexandros PAPARAS, 2015. "Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth, Empirical Evidence in European Union," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 2(4), pages 239-268, December.
    17. Richard Kneller & Norman Gemmell, 2002. "Fiscal Policy, Growth and Convergence in Europe," European Economy Group Working Papers 14, European Economy Group.
    18. Sefa Awaworyi & Siew Ling Yew, 2014. "Government Transfers and Growth: Is there Evidence of Genuine Effect?," Monash Economics Working Papers 40-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    19. Hammed Adetola Adefeso, 2016. "Productive Government Expenditure and Economic Performance in sub-Saharan Africa: An Empirical Investigation," Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 19(2), pages 1-18, November.
    20. Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2004. "Meta-analysis of the effect of fiscal policies on long-run growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 91-124, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sri Lanka; Wirtschaftswachstum; öffentliche Ausgaben;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

    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:wiw:wus009:516. 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: WU Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://research.wu.ac.at/ .

    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.