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This study concerns itself with the process of public sector resource allocation in Canada from 1965-1975. An examination of the Federal Government's own procedure manual for program evaluation, and the analysis of several program evaluations for Departments of Health, Education and Manpower, reveal that the analytical procedures and economic precepts used depart significantly from accepted norms of economic theory. Consequently, the rates of return claimed for these programs are distorted and, where they are used for the rationing of public sector resources, collective welfare will not be optimized. The major causes of these problems are improper analytical methodology and the failure to adhere to basic economic principles of resource allocation. Support for this hypothesis derives from accepted economic theory with respect to welfare maximization and the allocation of public expenditures.

The Government of National Unity, on coming into power in April, 1994, has endorsed the reconstruction and development programme (RDP) and its broad agenda for the rapid removal of the problems and gross inequality evident in all aspects of the South African society. Many economists argue that the sustain ability of the RDP, will depend crucially on the maintenance of fiscal discipline and the progressive reduction of the overall fiscal deficit. As excessive fiscal deficits are often associated with higher inflation, higher real interest rates, balance of payments disequilibrium and lower economic growth, thereby putting the RDP at jeopardy. The view based on the Ricardian Equivalence approach however, takes the position that neither deficits nor the way they are financed, is as critical to economic policy and the future prosperity of an economy, as is generally believed. The Ricardian view consequently, argues that government need not necessarily embark on deficit reduction programmes as advocated by the so called traditional view. The study investigates the validity of the Ricardian view, both on the empirical and theoretical side, with special reference to the South African economy. The specific question that this study attempts to address is whether economic agents behave in a Ricardian manner in the South African economy. Our results (based on the replication of the Dalamagas (1994) study) could be very consequential for South African policy makers, as they suggest that the Ricardian Equivalence proposition is valid and therefore, government could on purely theoretical grounds shift its focus away from the debt situation, and concentrate on the policies aimed to correct the inequalities (in wealth, distribution of public goods, employment opportunities) created by the Apartheid era. Whether government should do so in reality however is debateable due to the other considerations that government need to take account of when implementing actual macroeconomic policy. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

The dissertation reviewed "the causes of war debate in Africa, and its implications for African military expenditures" by levelling the argument of greed hypothesis as inconsistent with the pragmatic ground situation in Africa that can properly inform optimal decision-making. The arguments raised support the debunking of greed claim that opportunity to pillage state resources, supersedes issues of grievance as cause of civil war. This work discussed the major civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1990, the study raised concerns that, by taking stance with greed has the tendency to make traditional state security the utmost policy concern. That also provides cost benefit excuse for state actors to give milex priority over other social sectors in budget prioritizing. It is argued that greed does not offer the platform for durable peace pursuit. The dissertation then showed that grievance is consistent with causes of civil war in Africa due to its multifarious outlook of conflicts. Grievance hypothesis, is supported because it offers practically approach to pursue endurable conflict, and problem solving approach to conflict analysis in Africa. Grievance encourages a policy of milex reduction and encourages peacebuilding effort. The study concluded by saying that none of the debate grievance and that of greed's validity justify the heinous carnage and destruction involved in African civil wars. Therefore what compels leaders to find solution with violence as a result of opportunity not based on resource per se, but it also involves misplaced priority to find lasting solution to grievance issues. It also involves the opportunity to heroism based on distorted perception of power and lack of social education on appropriate means to conflict resolution, and lack of appropriate early warning mechanism and trivialization of conflict warnings as happened in ECOWAS, East-Central Africa. Nine recommendations suggested in the dissertation centres on the causes of new civil wars debates and policy; the study of cases of new civil wars in SSA; and on the influence of new civil wars debate on milex. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-154). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-159).

<p>This study examines the impact of exchange rate on inflation in Nigeria economy between 1970 and 2007. We analyzed the trend of inflation and exchange rate in the last 38 years by evaluating the relationship between government expenditure, money supply, Oil revenue, exchange rate and inflation as the dependent variables. We adopted the Augmented Dickey- Fuller to carry out the unit root test and co integration with Johansen test.</p><p>Our result shows that the individual variables are integrated order one, that is a unit root exist. This means that each variable tends to follow a random walk. On the other hand, inflation rate, exchange rate, oil revenue, government spending and money supply are co integrated. This revealed a strong relationship among the variables though inflation rate and exchange rate show no long term relationship, but short term relationship seems to exist between them.</p>

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security And Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2008. / Thesis advisor: Bellavita, Christopher; Second reader: Alan D. Conroy. "September 2008." Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-84). Also available on the Internet (System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader).

This paper investigates the effects of the composition of public spending together with the impact of fiscal decentralization on growth for a set of four Central European countries over the period from 1995 to 2010. The main contribution to the current literature arises from the fact that for the first time, this paper examines a possible common trend of the variables which may lead to misleading results if left untreated. Indeed, most variables suffered from this problem. The interpretation of obtained results must therefore take this issue into account. We found that expenditure on education and defence seems to have positive and significant impact on economic growth. On the contrary, economic affairs consistently exhibit a negative and significant impact on the growth rate. In addition, fiscal decentralization seems to be beneficial for economic growth of the concerned countries. Furthermore, the implication of a strong negative impact of economic affairs is robust regarding different specifications, and especially with respect to the common trend issue.