IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/regstd/v35y2001i6p563-575.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional Taxing and Spending: The Search for Balance

Author

Listed:
  • R. Ross Mackay

Abstract

The financial settlement has been described as the key to devolution. Public spending above tax in Scotland and Wales has been criticized. Public spending is above tax in seven UK regions, including four English regions. If we treat equal citizens equally, public spending will be above tax in poorer regions. There is nothing extraordinary about spending above tax, but there are important questions with regard to regional levels of expenditure. In four regions (London, South East, Scotland and Northern Ireland) public expenditure is well above the level expected for their degree of prosperity. This article provides possible explanations.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Ross Mackay, 2001. "Regional Taxing and Spending: The Search for Balance," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 563-575.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:35:y:2001:i:6:p:563-575
    DOI: 10.1080/00343400120065723
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343400120065723
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00343400120065723?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. A. D. Scott, 1952. "Federal Grants and Resource Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(6), pages 534-534.
    2. R. Ross Mackay & Philip Molyneux, 1996. "Bank Credit and the Regions: A Comparison within Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(8), pages 757-763.
    3. Musgrave, Richard A, 1997. "Reconsidering the Fiscal Role of Government," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 156-159, May.
    4. Short, John, 1984. "Public Finance and Devolution: Money Flows between Government and Regions in the United Kingdom," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 31(2), pages 114-130, June.
    5. MacKay, R Ross, 1994. "Automatic Stabilisers, European Union and National Unity," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 18(6), pages 571-585, December.
    6. J Wiseman, 1987. "The Political Economy of Federalism: A Critical Appraisal," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 5(4), pages 383-410, December.
    7. James M. Buchanan, 1952. "Federal Grants and Resource Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(3), pages 208-208.
    8. Wallace E. Oates, 1991. "Studies In Fiscal Federalism," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 342.
    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. Yusniliyana Yusof & Kaliappa Kalirajan & Azhar Mohamad, 2022. "Fiscal decentralization and convergence in government spending in Malaysia," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 2669-2681, July.
    2. Å árka SobotoviÄ ová & Beata Blechová, 2017. "Disparities Of The Regions Of The Czech Republic In Terms Of Tax Revenues," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(4), pages 1304-1313.
    3. David Pickernell & Mark Mcgovern, 2002. "Begging Bowl Meets Baseball Bat? Lessons for the UK from the Australian Fiscal Model," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 703-707.
    4. Edgar Morgenroth, 2010. "Regional Dimension of Taxes and Public Expenditure in Ireland," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(6), pages 777-789.
    5. Peter Gripaios & Paul Bishop, 2005. "Spatial inequalities in UK GDP per head: The role of private and public services," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(8), pages 945-958, December.
    6. Giovanni Melina & Stefania Villa, 2014. "Fiscal Policy And Lending Relationships," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 696-712, April.
    7. Peter Gripaios & Paul Bishop, 2005. "Policy Debates Government Output and Expenditure in UK Regions and Sub-regions: An Analysis of the New Experimental Accounts Data," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(6), pages 805-813.
    8. Mercedes Rodríguez & José A. Camacho, 2008. "The geography of public services employment in Europe: concentration or dispersion?," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 325-335, April.
    9. Yannis Psycharis, 2008. "Public Spending Patterns: the regional allocation of public investment in Greece by political period," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 14, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    10. Matthew Lambrinidis & Yannis Psycharis & Antonis Rovolis, 2005. "Regional allocation of public infrastructure investment: The case of Greece," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(9), pages 1231-1244.
    11. Leith, Campbell & Moldovan, Ioana & Rossi, Raffaele, 2015. "Monetary and fiscal policy under deep habits," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 55-74.
    12. Cristiano Cantore & Paul Levine & Giovanni Melina, 2014. "Deep versus superficial habit: It’s all in the persistence," School of Economics Discussion Papers 0714, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    13. David Heald & John Short, 2002. "The Regional Dimension of Public Expenditure in England," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7), pages 743-755.
    14. Peter Gripaios, 2002. "Regional Spending: A Comment on MacKay," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 685-689.
    15. Sandberg Hanssen, Thor-Erik & Jørgensen, Finn, 2015. "Transportation policy and road investments," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 49-57.
    16. Cristiano Cantore & Paul Levine & Giovanni Melina, 2014. "A Fiscal Stimulus and Jobless Recovery," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(3), pages 669-701, July.
    17. Tsekeris, Theodore, 2014. "Multi-sectoral interdependencies of regional public infrastructure investments," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 263-272.
    18. Kevin Morgan & Max Munday & Annette Roberts, 2017. "Local economic development opportunities from NHS spending: Evidence from Wales," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(13), pages 3138-3156, October.
    19. Peter Gripaios, 2002. "The Failure of Regeneration Policy in Britain," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(5), pages 568-577.

    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. Robin Boadway & Masayoshi Hayashi, 2002. "An Evaluation Of The Risk-sharing Function Of Equalization In Canada," Working Paper 1006, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    2. Albouy, David, 2012. "Evaluating the efficiency and equity of federal fiscal equalization," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 824-839.
    3. Robin Boadway & Masayoshi Hayashi, 2004. "An Evaluation of the Stabilization Properties of Equalization in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 30(1), pages 91-109, March.
    4. K. Shanmugam & K. R. Shanmugam, 2022. "Equalisation Transfers Based on Spending Needs and Fiscal Capacity of State Governments in India," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 16(2), pages 139-165, May.
    5. Jeongwan Kim, 2014. "Intergovernmental Distribution of VAT Revenue in Korea: Local Consumption Tax," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 30, pages 109-131.
    6. Albert Breton & Angela Fraschini, 2007. "Competitive Governments, Globalization, and Equalization Grants," Public Finance Review, , vol. 35(4), pages 463-479, July.
    7. Yannis Psycharis, 2008. "Public Spending Patterns: the regional allocation of public investment in Greece by political period," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 14, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    8. Alain Marciano, 2020. "How Buchanan’s concern for the South shaped his first academic works," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 247-271, June.
    9. Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & McNab, Robert M., 2003. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1597-1616, September.
    10. Benchimol, Jonathan & Bounader, Lahcen, 2023. "Optimal monetary policy under bounded rationality," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    11. Smith, Kerry & Schwabe, Kurt A. & Mansfield, Carol, 1997. "Does Nature Limit Environmental Federalism?," Working Papers 97-01, Duke University, Department of Economics.
    12. Roberto Dell’Anno & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2013. "A Behavioral Local Public Finance Perspective on the Renter’s Illusion Hypothesis," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1303, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    13. Deborah A. Carroll, 2005. "Are State Governments Prepared for Fiscal Crises? A Look at Revenue Diversification during the 1990s," Public Finance Review, , vol. 33(5), pages 603-633, September.
    14. John Ashton, 2001. "Market Definition of the UK Deposit Savings Account Market," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 577-584.
    15. Beata Guziejewska, 2008. "Efektywność finansów samorządu terytorialnego," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 5-6, pages 71-89.
    16. Philip Bodman & Harry Campbell & Kelly-Ana Heaton & Andrew Hodge, "undated". "Fiscal Decentralisation, Macroeconomic Conditions and Economic Growth in Australia," MRG Discussion Paper Series 2609, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    17. Spiros Bougheas & Panicos Demetriades & Edgar Morgenroth, 2003. "International aspects of public infrastructure investment," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 36(4), pages 884-910, November.
    18. repec:npf:wpaper:20 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Bernd Hansjürgens, 2000. "The Influence of Knut Wicksell on Richard Musgrave and James Buchanan," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 95-116, April.
    20. M. Mar㈠& M. Sarcinelli, 1994. "The European Union: how to assign the functions of government," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 47(191), pages 341-377.
    21. Csillag, István, 2001. "Költségvetési összhangzattan. Diktatúrából a demokráciába? [Budgetary harmony. From dictatorship to democracy?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 824-843.

    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:taf:regstd:v:35:y:2001:i:6:p:563-575. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CRES20 .

    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.