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The Relative Progressivity of Social Services in Ecuador

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  • Stephen D. Younger

    (Cornell University)

Abstract

This article examines the incidence of public subsidies to health and education services in Ecuador. In Ecuador, health and education services are the only public expenditures that consciously attempt to redistribute welfare to the poor. The methods combine demand estimates from the willingness-to-pay literature with welfare dominance tests, allowing a comparison of the standard benefit incidence analysis with the more sophisticated demand estimates. The results give a clear progressivity ordering for the public services examined: primary school subsidies are the most progressive, followed by health consultations for children, health consultations for adults and secondary education (which are statistically indistinguishable), and subsidies for tertiary education. Of these, only the first two have a significant impact on the distribution of per capita expenditure, inclusive of benefits. These results are remarkably consistent across the methods used.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen D. Younger, 1999. "The Relative Progressivity of Social Services in Ecuador," Public Finance Review, , vol. 27(3), pages 310-352, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:27:y:1999:i:3:p:310-352
    DOI: 10.1177/109114219902700304
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Akram & Faheem Jehangir Khan, 2007. "Public Provision of Education and Government Spending in Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2007:40, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    2. Gaddah, Mawuli & Munro, Alistair & Quartey, Peter, 2016. "Education subsidy and school enrollments in rural Ghana," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 143-152.
    3. World Bank, 2004. "Ecuador : Poverty Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 14593, The World Bank Group.
    4. Muhammad Akram & Faheem Jehangir Khan, 2007. "Health Care Services and Government Spending in Pakistan," Governance Working Papers 22184, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    5. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2001. "The Impact of Budgets on the Poor: Tax and Benefit," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0110, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    6. Essama-Nssah, B., 2008. "Assessing the redistributive effect of fiscal policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4592, The World Bank.

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