Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-37). Also available on the Internet.

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Essentially, there are two competing propositions on tax base choices. The optimal tax theory on taxation asserts that the broader the tax base the better the tax. On the other hand, some public choice proponents have argued that, at the constitutional level, we should choose to restrict the power to tax and thus limit the available base. These theories assert fundamentally different views on the state and its citizens. Within the traditional optimal tax framework, governments maximize residents utility and tax base broadening lowers the tax rate, thus there is a revenue neutral response. When, however, governments do not choose to maximize residents utility, then increases in the tax base can have an impact on governments revenues and spending. In order to determine if tax bases influence government spending data on forty-eight states were compiled for the years 1977 through 1992. A state finance system of equations was developed. Using three-stage least squares estimation in a fixed effects econometric model, the relationship between the broadness of a tax base and state government spending was estimated. The state sales tax base was the tax base used to study this relationship. The results of this estimation found that states with broader sales tax bases had higher spending, all else equal. This result suggest that governments do not act as if they maximize resident utility when making tax base and rate decisions, otherwise base broadness would have no impact on spending. An additional result from this empirical analysis, is that tax base and rates are inversely related, but the relationship does not lead to revenue-neutral adjustments.

Governments play many roles in a society, some political, some social, and some economic (Tanzi, 1997). These roles are guided by a notion of common good and constrained by availability of finances. This interaction between ideology and economics lies at the heart of public finance. The central question examined in this dissertation is if, how, and to what extent the goals, norms and values implied in the Holy Qur'an and sunnah result in a mode of government fiscal organisation similar to or different from the received from the received Western model. / The methodological framework employed uses the tenets of Islamic socio-economic justice as the theory-choice criteria to analyse and choose among multiple Western social-scientific theories on a selected topic and then build further upon them. Thus the Islamic call for financing redistribution through zakah translates into a levy on net worth (beyond a stipulated minimum) and a charge on earned income. For general taxation, however, any economically feasible tax is admitted as long as the aggregate burden of general taxation is not regressive. On financing public expenditure in excess of taxation, the Islamic prohibition of fixed interest and appreciation of profit and loss sharing arrangements is found to impose commercial discipline on state activities thereby ameliorating public choice concerns on government failure. Alternatives such as in-kind finance, public-private partnerships, and ijtihadi instruments are proposed. / Combining these findings into one theory produces an Islamic parallel to the Keynesian solution for demand management that depends on charge in the mix of taxation and the mode of (commercial and) deficit finance to motivate efficient utilisation of wealth and its circulation through participatory finance. / Moving from the normative to the positive analysis, it is observed that the principles of fairness in fiscal management are compromised by a wide margin in many jurisdictions. This recognition provides a link with the pivotal role that governance plays in social and economic development. To this end, it is noted that Islam emphasises on cultivating internal restraint against corruption through developing a clear higher-order preference for a catalogue of values and virtues so as to arbitrate among competing first-order desires. In comparison, the Western strategy focuses on appropriate institutions that harness incentives toward minimising opportunities and enticement for corruption. The conclusion reached is that both ingredients are essential for good governance and by implication, for the success of the taxation and deficit finance schema developed in this thesis. / Drawing together the analyses presented on taxation, deficit finance and governance produces an Islamic agenda that calls Muslin nations to put their own houses in order. This means an urgency to work on multiple fronts: rethinking governance, re-establishing supremacy of law, reforming taxation in line with domestic income and wealth profile and economic priorities, facilitating appropriate investment profile and climate, and reconsidering expenditure priorities. To the end we have highlighted some constraints and made detailed proposals. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 446-475).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-145). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

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This thesis investigates the relationship between oil revenue and macroeconomic policies and performance in Oman. The thesis contains five empirical chapters along with introduction, literature review and conclusion. The first empirical chapter looks into the dynamic relationship between oil revenue, government spending and economic activities. The results indicate oil revenue has immediate and significant impact on both the country s GDP and the government expenditure. The government expenditure also has significant impact on the GDP. The second empirical chapter examines the validity of the Wagner s Law and the Keynesian hypothesis in regards to the relationship between the government spending and economic performance. The chapter uses both aggregated and disaggregated government expenditure where the data are divided into recurrent and capital investment. The findings show that there is a long run-relationship between the government spending and the GDP for the period covered. The causality analysis suggests that public investment causes economic growth, but the recurrent expenditure is insignificant. The third empirical chapter investigates the impact of government spending on economic performance where the government spending was decomposed into health, education and militaryexpenditure. The results of these components of the government expenditure and along with an index of openness have long-run relationship with GDP. The short-run coefficient on military spending is insignificant and that of health is negative and significant. However, the long-run coefficients are all positive and significant, except that of military. The fourth empirical chapter analyses the relationship between government expenditure and oil revenue in Oman. The disaggregated government expenditure of health, education and military are used for the analysis in order to see the response of each component to oil revenue changes. The results show that, although all the components responded positively to a positive oils revenue shock, it is the military component that has recorded highest response with more persistence. The fifth chapter investigates the relationship between the current account and the fiscal deficits in Oman. The chapter uses a threshold cointegration technique that is capable of capturing non-linearity and asymmetric adjustment between the series. The estimated results show that there is a long-run relationship between the current account and fiscal deficits in Oman and that adjustment between the series is asymmetric. It is found that upward adjustment is much faster than downward adjustment.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences. 27 March 2019 / This thesis investigates the role of institutional quality on the impact of government expenditure on economic performance. The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction of the thesis. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 are empirical chapters examining the role of institutions on the relationship between government expenditure and various indicators of economic performance. Chapter 5 concludes by giving policy recommendations. In chapter 1 we provide a background, motivation, objectives, hypothesis to be tested, gaps in the literature, contributions of the study and the main findings. In chapter 2 we explore how institutional quality affects the government spending-output growth nexus. We estimate a modified growth accounting model found in Hansson and Henrekson (1994) and control for institutional quality by employing panel regression techniques on a panel of 71 countries over a period 1970-2015. Our main estimation technique, 3SLS with seemingly unrelated errors, is able to control for endogeneity and cross equation correlation. We find that the institutional quality variable has a mitigating effect on the relationship between government expenditure and output growth however, government expenditure generally has a negative and detrimental effect on output growth. This suggests that better institutional quality offsets the adverse effects of government expenditure. As such, there is a need to come up with policies that strengthen institutional quality and enhance the effectiveness of government expenditure programs. Chapter 3 we examine the role of institutions on the optimal size of the government. The quadratic method of Armey (1995) and Scully (1994) method are employed on the country (time series regression) and group (panel data regression) estimations. Furthermore, we use the Hansen (1999) panel threshold regression technique to determine the presence of an optimal size and the values thereof. We ascertain that the majority of countries do have a significant optimal size of government. However, we note that the optimal size of government varies across countries and regions. Despite the presence of a non-linear relationship between government expenditure and output growth, there seems to be a marked difference between the size of government across levels of development and institutional arrangements. Countries with better institutions and higher levels of development seem to have a lower optimal level of government size. Perhaps, better institutions and higher levels of development help mitigate the adverse effects of government expenditure on output growth through the minimisation of the scope and scale of government activities, i.e., government size. Chapter 4 investigates the Twin Deficits Hypothesis (TWDH) and the role of institutional quality on a sample of 48 countries for the period 1995-2013. Using the national income accounting decomposition and the approaches in Feldstein and Horioka (1980) and Fidrmuc (2003) we investigate the role of institutional quality and capital mobility on the current account deficits and the government budget deficits (i.e., TWDH) nexus. We apply OLS, fixed effects, random effects regressions and panel cointegration techniques in our analysis. The results from the panel cointegration tests show that a long run relationship exists between the current account balance, investment and the government budget balance. The results reveal that current account deficits are mainly driven by private investment flows. However, we only find support for the Twin Deficits Hypothesis in a sample of developed countries and higher institutional quality countries. The results imply that governments of these countries enjoy financing from international sources and can easily finance their budget deficits without siphoning domestic savings away from investment. This result is unsurprising considering that capital seems to flow towards areas with perceived less risk. This suggests that current account deficits in developing countries are as a result of private agents’ decisions and not driven by government budget deficits. / PH2020