IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/inrvec/v67y2020i1d10.1007_s12232-019-00333-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cyclicality of public health expenditure in India: role of fiscal transfer and domestic revenue mobilization

Author

Listed:
  • Deepak Kumar Behera

    (Public Health Foundation of India)

  • Ranjan Kumar Mohanty

    (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy)

  • Umakant Dash

    (Indian Institute of Technology Madras)

Abstract

The motivation for the exploration of the cyclical behaviour in public health expenditure is derived from the level of heterogeneity in public health services associated with a low level of fiscal space among the Indian states. The fiscal space for health literature argues that the growth of public health expenditure is influenced by the conducive macroeconomic environment such as sustained economic growth and increases in overall government revenue. Examining the role of fiscal space components on the cyclical behaviour of public health expenditure has remained unnoticed in the earlier literature, especially in the Indian context. Therefore, the study attempts to examine the cyclical behaviour in public health expenditure with respect to both output and revenue fluctuation by controlling fiscal transfer and lagged fiscal deficit, using system generalized method of moment regression approach. The cyclicality of public health expenditure is examined for all 28 states, general category states, and special category states separately for the period 2000–2016. The empirical results show that public health expenditure is pro-cyclical in both boom and recession period in India. The results find that economic growth, tax revenue, and central transfers have a positive and significant effect on public health expenditure among the Indian states. It also confirms that health is a necessity in India. It finds that central fiscal transfers play a significant role in the special category states than the general category states in order to finance the health sector. This study suggests that more focus should be given for the enhancement of fiscal space for health sector through revenue mobilization and smooth flow of central fiscal transfers among the Indian states.

Suggested Citation

  • Deepak Kumar Behera & Ranjan Kumar Mohanty & Umakant Dash, 2020. "Cyclicality of public health expenditure in India: role of fiscal transfer and domestic revenue mobilization," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(1), pages 87-110, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:inrvec:v:67:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s12232-019-00333-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s12232-019-00333-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12232-019-00333-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12232-019-00333-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abbott, Andrew & Cabral, René & Jones, Philip & Palacios, Roberto, 2015. "Political pressure and procyclical expenditure: An analysis of the expenditures of state governments in Mexico," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 195-206.
    2. António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles, 2013. "The cyclicality of education, health, and social security government spending," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7), pages 669-672, May.
    3. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    4. Gang Chen & Brett Inder & Paula Lorgelly & Bruce Hollingsworth, 2013. "The Cyclical Behaviour Of Public And Private Health Expenditure In China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(9), pages 1071-1092, September.
    5. Jonathan Rodden & Erik Wibbels, 2010. "Fiscal Decentralization And The Business Cycle: An Empirical Study Of Seven Federations," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 37-67, March.
    6. Julia Darby & Jacques Melitz, 2008. "Social spending and automatic stabilizers in the OECD [‘Real-time output gaps in ex post policy analysis: A red herring?’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 23(56), pages 716-756.
    7. Michael Gavin & Ricardo Hausmann & Roberto Perotti & Ernesto Talvi, 1996. "Managing Fiscal Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Volatility, Procyclicality, and Limited Creditworthiness," Research Department Publications 4032, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    8. 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.
    9. Talvi, Ernesto & Vegh, Carlos A., 2005. "Tax base variability and procyclical fiscal policy in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 156-190, October.
    10. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond, 2000. "GMM Estimation with persistent panel data: an application to production functions," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 321-340.
    11. Arena, Marco & Revilla, Julio E., 2009. "Pro-cyclical fiscal policy in brazil: evidence from the states," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5144, The World Bank.
    12. Mishra, Prachi & Newhouse, David, 2009. "Does health aid matter?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 855-872, July.
    13. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    14. Edit V. Velenyi & Marc F. Smitz, 2014. "Cyclical Patterns in Government Health Expenditures Between 1995 and 2010," Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion Paper Series 87885, The World Bank.
    15. Lane, Philip R., 2003. "The cyclical behaviour of fiscal policy: evidence from the OECD," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 2661-2675, December.
    16. repec:bla:obuest:v:61:y:1999:i:0:p:631-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Kathleen Cleeren & Lien Lamey & Jan‐Hinrich Meyer & Ko De Ruyter, 2016. "How Business Cycles Affect the Healthcare Sector: A Cross‐country Investigation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 787-800, July.
    18. Mcintyre, Di & Meheus, Filip & Røttingen, John-Arne, 2017. "What level of domestic government health expenditure should we aspire to for universal health coverage?," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 125-137, April.
    19. repec:idb:wpaper:326 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Michael Gavin & Ricardo Hausmann & Roberto Perotti & Ernesto Talvi, 1996. "Managing Fiscal Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Volatility, Procyclicality, and Limited Creditworthiness," Research Department Publications 4032, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    21. Philip R. Lane & Aaron Tornell, 1999. "The Voracity Effect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 22-46, March.
    22. Andrew Abbott & Philip Jones, 2013. "Procyclical government spending: a public choice analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 243-258, March.
    23. G. S. Maddala & Shaowen Wu, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 631-652, November.
    24. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    25. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    26. Hansjörg Blöchliger & Balázs Égert, 2013. "Fiscal Consolidation Across Government Levels - Part 3. Intergovernmental Grants, Pro- or Counter-cyclical?," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1072, OECD Publishing.
    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. Hemachandra Padhan & Deepak Kumar Behera & Santosh Kumar Sahu & Umakant Dash, 2023. "Does Corruption Hinderance Economic Growth Despite Surge of Remittance and Capital Inflows Since Economic Liberalization in an Emerging Economy, India," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(1), pages 426-449, March.
    2. Deepak Kumar Behera & Umakant Dash, 2020. "Is health expenditure effective for achieving healthcare goals? Empirical evidence from South-East Asia Region," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 593-618, June.
    3. Deepak Kumar Behera & Dil B. Rahut & Herosh T. Haridas & Shaik Husna Tasneem, 2024. "Public Versus Private Health Financing Transition in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Exploring the Crowding-Out Effects," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(4), pages 957-986, August.
    4. Indrani Gupta & Samik Chowdhury & Avantika Ranjan & Diwas Singh Saun, 2021. "Priorities in Budgetary Allocations for Health during the Fourteenth Finance Commission: Evidence from Five States," IEG Working Papers 419, Institute of Economic Growth.
    5. Manuel E. Lago & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2024. "On the effects of intergovernmental grants: a survey," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(3), pages 856-908, June.
    6. Mohanty, Ranjan Kumar & Behera, Deepak Kumar, 2020. "How Effective is Public Health Care Expenditure in Improving Health Outcome? An Empirical Evidence from the Indian States," Working Papers 20/300, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

    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. Abbott, Andrew & Jones, Philip, 2021. "Government response to increased demand for public services: The cyclicality of government health expenditures in the OECD," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Jalles, João Tovar, 2020. "Social expenditure cyclicality: New time-varying evidence in developing economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    3. Jing Xing & Clemens Fuest, 2018. "Central-local government fiscal relations and cyclicality of public spending: evidence from China," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(4), pages 946-980, August.
    4. Liang, Li-Lin & Tussing, A. Dale, 2019. "The cyclicality of government health expenditure and its effects on population health," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 96-103.
    5. Andrew Abbott & Philip Jones, 2016. "Fiscal Illusion and Cyclical Government Expenditure: State Government Expenditure in the United States," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 63(2), pages 177-193, May.
    6. Andrew Abbott & Philip Jones, 2021. "The cyclicality of government foreign-aid expenditure: voter awareness in “good” times and in “bad”," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 97-117, January.
    7. Jalles, João Tovar, 2021. "Dynamics of government spending cyclicality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 411-427.
    8. Behera, Deepak Kumar & Dash, Umakant, 2019. "Prioritization of government expenditure on health in India: A fiscal space perspective," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    9. Xiang Luo & Xinhai Lu & Zuo Zhang & Yue Pan, 2020. "Regional differences and rural public expenditure cyclicality: evidence from transitory and persistent shocks in China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(2), pages 281-318, October.
    10. João T. Jalles, 2022. "Do credit rating agencies reward fiscal prudence?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 2-22, April.
    11. Yongfu Huang, 2011. "Private investment and financial development in a globalized world," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 43-56, August.
    12. Ding Nan & Pomi Shahbaz & Shamsheer ul Haq & Muhammad Nadeem & Muhammad Imran, 2023. "The Economies’ Ability to Produce Diversified and Complex Goods to Meet the Global Competition: Role of Gross Value Chain, Institutional Quality, and Human Capital," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, April.
    13. Enrique Alberola & Manuel Montero, 2006. "Debt Sustainability and Procyclical Fiscal Policies in Latin America," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2006), pages 157-193, August.
    14. João T. Jalles, 2020. "Explaining Africa's public consumption procyclicality: Revisiting old evidence," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 297-323, August.
    15. Andrew Abbott & Philip Jones, 2013. "Procyclical government spending: a public choice analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 243-258, March.
    16. Abbott, Andrew & Jones, Philip, 2014. "‘Leaning Against an Open Door’: Ideology and the cyclicality of public expenditure," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 957-969.
    17. Duran, Hasan Engin & Ferreira-Lopes, Alexandra, 2022. "The Revival Of The Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle And Moderation Of Capital Flows After The Global Financial Crisis (2008/09)," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Ryota Nakatani, 2017. "The Effects of Productivity Shocks, Financial Shocks, and Monetary Policy on Exchange Rates: An Application of the Currency Crisis Model and Implications for Emerging Market Crises," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(11), pages 2545-2561, November.
    19. Stojkoski, Viktor & Kocarev, Ljupco, 2017. "The Relationship Between Growth and Economic Complexity: Evidence from Southeastern and Central Europe," MPRA Paper 77837, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2017.
    20. Robert C. M. Beyer & Lazar Milivojevic, 2021. "Fiscal policy and economic activity in South Asia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 340-358, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public health expenditure; Cyclical behaviour; Revenue mobilization; Fiscal transfer; Generalized method of moment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • C5 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: 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:spr:inrvec:v:67:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s12232-019-00333-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.