This study examined the effects of government expenditure on different components of economic growth in South Africa using quarterly data from the period 1970Q1 to 2016Q4. The six key policy variables employed in the analysis were derived from the Ram (1986) production model and the New Growth Path (NGP), a macroeconomic framework designed to address the main challenges (unemployment, poverty and inequality) facing the economy as a result of its political past. The analysis of the relationship was carried out using the VECM while the findings from the analysis revealed that though there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The long-run estimates showed that aggregate private consumption expenditure and employment-to-population ratio are significant but negatively, related to economic growth. However, the net inflows of foreign direct investment and gross fixed capital formation are negatively related to gross government expenditure. This implies that excessive public capital expenditure might reduce the positive impact of the two variables on economic growth. The study therefore suggests that government should consider increasing its expenditure on the significant variables that support labour and capital development, in order to enhance economic growth in South Africa. / Economics

經濟成長一直是人們所關心的問題。而以前的經濟學家則是利用新古典的成長模型，來解釋經濟成長的現象。但是，他們對於在長期各國成長率不一致的現象，卻一直束手無策，直到最近內生成長理論的出現，這個問題才獲得圓滿的解釋。 　　由於上述的理由，本文就根據成長的動力是內生的角度，著手探討邊做邊學的效果對經濟長期的影響，並且再加入政府支出的效果，來討論兩者對經濟成長的解釋，是否要比單獨用邊做邊學效果來得好。 　　另外，本文除了理論模型的推導之外，還加入了實證分析。此分析乃是利用臺灣與南韓的資料，根據時間序列計量的方法，來進行迴歸分析。結果證明：邊做邊學的效果的確會影響經濟成長率，而且如果再加入生產性的政府支出，則會對經濟成長的解釋更有幫助；但是，如果加入的是消費性的政府支出，則會降低經濟成長率或者是經濟成長的解釋。此結果所顯示的經濟涵義乃是：一個國家如果要維持長期且持續的成長，則必須一方面累積資本，擴大邊做邊學的效果；另一方面，政府必須增加生產性的支出，減少消費性的政府支出，如此才能產生連鎖效果，帶動經濟的成長。

This paper analyzes municipal expenditures in the light of horizontal fiscal interactions. I investigate total expenditures and a set of non-earmarked expenditure subcategories in the largest German federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The empirical analysis is based on a Spatial Durbin Model in a panel for the years 2009-2015. Using a two-regime spatial matrix, I also examine the impact of agglomeration on the intensity of public expenditure interactions, thus testing the hypothesis that an agglomerated region can decrease the amount of public goods without losing mobile factors to the periphery. The findings indicate that significant municipal expenditure interaction effects do exist. The reaction functions also vary for different expenditure subcategories. Unlike spillover effects and fiscal competition, yardstick competition is an insignificant source of potential interactions. Expenditure interaction is fiercer if there is less agglomeration in a municipality. Urbanized and populous municipalities appear to benefit from agglomeration economies, a fact that enables them to spend less. Robustness checks confirm the findings.

We investigate how lump-sum equalization transfers affect expenditures and taxes in the municipalities of the largest German state North Rhine-Westphalia. In general, those general-purpose transfers cannot be treated as exogenous variables. Thus, for the identification of causal effects, two exogenous adjustments in the transfer allocation formula are used as instrumental variables. Findings suggest the existence of the “flypaper effect” – municipalities use transfers to increase expenditures but do not reduce tax rates. Extra money from transfers is mainly used to finance social expenditures and public facilities. A set of robustness checks, including a spatial dependence model, confirm the results.

This thesis investigates how women's political representation influences foreign aid utilization. While recent contributions show that the impact of foreign aid is highly dependent on the recipient government, there is still limited research on the relationship between women's political representation and aid utilization. Existing work within the research field of female political representation suggests that women are more likely to prioritize resource allocation towards healthcare and education and less likely to prioritize the military. Thus, women’s political representation is predicted to work as a moderating effect on aid utilization, whereby increases in female representation is associated with more aid resources being allocated towards healthcare and education and less to the military. To test the relationship(s) implied, this thesis employs multiple regression analysis on a time series data set of 102 aid-receiving countries from 2000-2017. The hypothesis that women's political representation has a moderating effect on aid utilization could not be supported by the regression analysis. The results do however indicate that female representation in the recipient countries influences government allocation in general.

Thesis(M.Com. (Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The reality is that the South African GDP is not within the range of what is projected the previous years. As the proposed expenditure for 2017/18 totals R1.56 trillion according to the 2017 budget speech, the treasury also need to reduce spending by a total of R26 billion over the next two years. Economic growth continues to be below expected levels in South Africa and unemployment is very high. The relationship between inflation, economic growth and government expenditure is important in both developing and developed countries. Like in any other economy in the world, the South African government’s most important role is to promote economic growth, and also to sustain high economic growth with low inflation (Brand South Africa, 2015). The study is completely based on secondary data. The methodology is quantitative which includes econometrical tools. For this purpose, this study applied Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips Perron unit root tests, Choice of the lag length, Johansen-Juselius Co-integration analysis, VEC Granger Causality/Block exogeneity Wald test, Vector Error Correlation Model, Diagnostic tests, Stability tests, Impulse response and Choleski/Variance decomposition methodology. From the findings, the results derived by applying Johansen-Juselius Co-integration indicate that there is a longterm relationship between the rate of inflation, economic growth and government expenditure, and also that both government expenditure and inflation impact negatively on economic growth. The results indicate that government expenditure encourages inflation impacting negatively on investment and the country’s GDP. Granger causality runs jointly from all three variables inflation, government expenditure and investment to the dependent variable (economic growth)

本論文主要係以三個主題所組成。 除第1章為緒論外，第2章係討論「政府效率支出與經濟成長」之關係。本章係以內生成長模型為主，並基於政府部門係一生產單位之假設，重新檢驗政府活動對經濟成長的影響。同時，亦提出政府支出是否具有效率之觀念，探討政府部門內部若發生無效率活動時對經濟體系可能產生的衝擊。 第3章為考慮外溢效果存在並以定額稅融通之補貼政策。本章主要討論： 若廠商之防污努力的投入具有外溢效果，則政府在訂定最適補貼率時，有無將外溢效果納入考量對補貼率訂定之影響。其次，本章亦討論當政府訂定補貼率時，外溢效果存在的考量與否，對廠商之最適產量及污染排放量之影響與傳統文獻不同。 第4章為考慮外溢效果下，污染稅和污染投入補貼併行的最適環境政策。 本章假設政府係採課徵污染稅來融通對廠商防治污染投入之補貼財源，分析比較不同環境政策的產出效果、污染排放效果，並藉此分析當一國政府面對廠商的防污技術具有外溢效果時，應如何修正其環境政策，以獲得較高的褔利水準。同時，在本章中亦將建構一個兩階段的賽局進行分析。

We investigate the effect of general-purpose transfers on different expenditure categories and tax rates in the municipalities of Saxony (eastern Germany) and North Rhine-Westphalia (western Germany). Findings from the panel data analysis suggest the existence of the “flypaper effect” – municipalities use transfers to increase expenditures but do not reduce taxes. For most expenditure subcategories the estimated coefficients are alike, suggesting similarity of spending priorities in the two federal states despite the differences in the transfer dependency. Targeted support of eastern municipalities could potentially explain few identified differences in the spending behavior.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar como a política fiscal brasileira respondeu às variações do ciclo econômico no período de 1997 a 2016. A partir do uso de dados trimestrais, busca-se entender se a política fiscal brasileira apresentou comportamento pró-cíclico, isto é, se atuou no sentido de reforçar os ciclos econômicos, se apresentou comportamento anti-cíclico, no qual as medidas de política fiscal são implementadas a fim de possibilitar um movimento fiscal na direção contrária aos ciclos, ou se foi tipicamente acíclica, sem possuir qualquer relação com o momento no qual a economia se encontrava. O estudo se dará analisando o superávit primário e enfatizando como certas variáveis macroeconômicas reagem a variações do hiato do produto. A análise se dará tanto do lado da despesa, com ênfase no gasto e também no consumo do governo, como também no que tange à receita. A análise pelo lado da receita é a grande contribuição deste trabalho para a literatura existente uma vez que os trabalhos já existentes para o caso brasileiro focam apenas no lado do gasto. Ainda no que diz respeito à receita, como a arrecadação total possui um comportamento tipicamente endógeno já amplamente discutido pela literatura existente, o foco se dará usando alíquotas efetivas médias de arrecadação tributária calculadas em estudos recentes. Os resultados indicam um comportamento pró-cíclico da política fiscal brasileira nos últimos vinte anos, tanto do lado da receita como da despesa, bem como uma inércia fiscal que ajuda a explicar o agravamento do problema da dívida pública e de solvência fiscal que o Estado brasileiro vem enfrentando recentemente. / The aim of this work is to analyze how the Brazilian fiscal policy responded to the variations of the business cycle within the period from 1997 to 2016. By using quarterly data, we seek to understand if the Brazilian fiscal policy presented a procyclical behavior, that is, if it acted so as to reinforce the business cycles, if it presented countercyclical behavior, in which the fiscal policy measures are implemented in order to allow a fiscal movement in the opposite direction of the cycles, or if it was typically acyclical bearing no relation to the moment in which the economy was subject. This study analyzes the primary surplus and emphasizes how certain macroeconomic variables react to the variations of the output gap. The analysis is conducted from the point of view of the expenditure, with emphasis on public spending and also in the government consumption, as well as the revenue. The analysis from the point of view of the revenue is the great contribution of this work to the existing literature as the already existing studies for the Brazilian case focus only on the point of view of the expenditure. Still regarding the revenue, as the total revenue has a typically endogenous behavior already largely discussed by the existing literature, the focus is on the average effective tax rates of the tax revenue calculated in recent studies. The results indicate a procyclical behavior of the Brazilian fiscal policy over the past twenty years, from both points of view: the revenue and also the expenditure, as well as a fiscal inertia which helps to explain the aggravation of the problem of the public debt and the fiscal solvency that the Brazilian State has been facing recently.

The new growth theory establishes, among other things, that government expenditure can manipulate economic growth of a country. This study attempts to explain whether government expenditure increases or decreases economic growth in the context of Sri Lanka. Results obtained applying an analytical framework based on time series and second degree polynomial regressions are generally consistent with previous findings: government expenditure and economic growth are positively correlated; excessive government expenditure is negatively correlated with economic growth; and an open economy promotes growth. In a separate section, the paper examines Armey's (1995) idea of a quadratic curve that explains the level of government expenditure in an economy and the corresponding level of economic growth. The findings confirm the possibility of constructing the Armey curve for Sri Lanka, and it estimates the optimal level of government expenditure to be approximately 27 per cent. This paper adds to the literature indicating that the Armey curve is a reality not only for developed economies, but also for developing economies.(author's abstract) / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers