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Can a Government Enhance Long-run Growth by Changing the Composition of Public Expenditure?

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  • Santiago Acosta-Ormaechea
  • Atsuyoshi Morozumi

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of a compositional change in public expenditure on long-run growth. To do this, we construct a new dataset based on the IMF's government finance statistics (GFS) yearbook covering the period 1970-2010 for 56 countries (14 low-, 16 medium-, and 26 high-income countries). We then study the causal effects of changes in the composition of expenditure on growth using generalized-method-of-moments (GMM) dynamic panel estimators. Our main finding is that a government can promote long-run growth by increasing education spending offset by a fall in social spending (i.e., health and social protection). An increase in public spending on infrastructure, however, does not appear to enhance growth when compensated by a fall in spending on other components, most notably education and social spending.

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  • Santiago Acosta-Ormaechea & Atsuyoshi Morozumi, 2013. "Can a Government Enhance Long-run Growth by Changing the Composition of Public Expenditure?," Discussion Papers 2013/01, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    • Handle: RePEc:not:notcfc:13/01
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kudrin, Alexey & Sokolov, Ilya, 2017. "Fiscal maneuver and restructuring of the Russian economy," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 221-239.
    3. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Stylianos Sakkas, 2021. "Redistributive policies in general equilibrium," JRC Working Papers on Territorial Modelling and Analysis 2021-08, Joint Research Centre.
    4. Kotera, Go & Okada, Keisuke, 2017. "How does democratization affect the composition of government expenditure?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 145-159.
    5. Tommaso Agasisti & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2020. "Public finance, government spending and economic growth: the case of local governments in Italy," Working papers 99, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    6. Mwamkonko, Mussa Ally, 2021. "Can Governments Enhance Long-run Growth by Reallocating Public Expenditure? Empirical Evidence from Tanzania," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 9(2), April.
    7. Karim Barhoumi & Reda Cherif & Mr. Nooman Rebei, 2016. "Stochastic Trends, Debt Sustainability and Fiscal Policy," IMF Working Papers 2016/059, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Barhoumi, Karim & Cherif, Reda & Rebei, Nooman, 2018. "Stochastic trends and fiscal policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 256-267.
    9. Branimir Jovanovic, 2017. "Growth forecast errors and government investment and consumption multipliers," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 83-107, January.
    10. Nihal Bayraktar & Blanca Moreno-Dodson, 2018. "Public Expenditures And Growth In A Monetary Union: The Case Of Waemu," Eurasian Journal of Economics and Finance, Eurasian Publications, vol. 6(1), pages 107-132.
    11. Ardanaz, Martín & Cavallo, Eduardo A. & Izquierdo, Alejandro & Puig, Jorge, 2021. "The Output Effects of Fiscal Consolidations: Does Spending Composition Matter?," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 11857, Inter-American Development Bank.
    12. Kudrin, Alexey & Sokolov, Ilya, 2017. "Fiscal maneuver and restructuring of the Russian economy," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 221-239.

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