Growth and Convergence of Social Sectors’ Expenditure in Indian States: Upshots from Neoclassical Growth and Panel Unit Roots Models

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Ramesh Chandra Das ◽  
Enrico Ivaldi
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Unit Roots ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Social Expenditure ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Panel Unit Roots ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
Social Expenditures ◽  
Neoclassical Growth ◽  
Social Sectors

In a world of having large part suffering from the inadequacies of basic needs and inter-class and inter-regional income disparities, investing upon the development of different social sectors from the state exchequers have been one of the top agendas of the policymakers. It is not a different issue for the states and provinces of the developing countries like India. Besides having positive roles on economic betterment, spending on social expenditures sometimes work in favour of the ruling political parties to gain confidence from the voters. The states thus compete in this area. Under this background, the present study attempts to examine whether the states of India are converging in social sector’s expenditure for the period 1980–81 to 2017–18. Applying the neoclassical growth and panel unit roots models the study observes unambiguously that there are absolute and conditional β convergence and σ convergence in per capita social expenditure among the states. JEL Classification: H72, O470, C23, O530

The New Progressive Dilemma through the Lens of Comparative Welfare State and Party Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis C. Spies
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Attitudinal Change ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Social Expenditures ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

The chapter summarizes the New Progressive Dilemma (NPD) debate, identifying three arguments from comparative welfare state and party research likely to be relevant to the relationship between immigration and welfare state retrenchment: public opinion, welfare institutions, and political parties. Alignment of anti-immigrant sentiments and welfare support varies considerably between countries, especially between the US and Europe, leading to different party incentives vis-à-vis welfare state retrenchment. The chapter introduces insights from comparative welfare state and party research to the debate, discussing inter alia, political parties in terms of welfare retrenchment, immigrants as a voter group, and cross-national variation of existing welfare institutions. It addresses the complex debates around attitudinal change caused by immigration, levels of welfare support, voting behavior, and social expenditures. Combining these strands of literature, a common theoretical framework is developed that is subsequently applied to both the US and Western European context.

scholarly journals One Welfare State for Europe: A Costly Utopia?

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1850020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hennessy ◽  
Thierry Warin
Keyword(s):  
Social Program ◽  
Pareto Optimum ◽  
Gdp Growth ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Expenditure ◽  
Asymmetric Shocks ◽  
Pareto Optimum Solution ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Optimum Solution ◽  
Social Expenditures

This paper addresses the question of the social policy harmonization in the European Union. In adopting a common monetary policy, Europe is faced with structural and fiscal concerns, as national growth levels differ. Another possible factor in output shocks are the levels of various social expenditures in the member countries. OECD data on the level of social program expenditures in four EU countries will be compared to fluctuations in GDP growth to identify existing relationships. Significant relationships between independent social expenditure policy and GDP growth shocks suggest structural harmonization as an improvement if Europe is to take full advantage of the common market. However, the effects of expenditure levels may be easier to identify and predict than the dynamic effects of policy change. As the effects of future policy changes are more difficult to ascertain, harmonization may not consistently appear to be a Pareto-optimum solution to asymmetric shocks.

scholarly journals An Intersection Test for Panel Unit Roots

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Hanck
Keyword(s):  
Unit Roots ◽  
Panel Unit Roots ◽  
Intersection Test

scholarly journals Managing the COVID-19 pandemic: does social infrastructure matter? Evidence from India

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amarendu Nandy ◽  
Chhavi Tiwari ◽  
Sayantan Kundu
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
State Level ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Externalities ◽  
Social Sectors

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic educed extraordinary policy responses globally, including in India, to flatten the infection-growth curve. The trajectories of infections, recovery, and deaths vastly differed across Indian states. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether persistent investments by states in critical social sectors, such as health and education, explain their preparedness and hence better management of the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This study uses secondary data on the number of infected, recovered and deceased due to COVID-19, along with data on population and income across 302 districts in 11 major states in India. Data on health and education indices are collected at the state-level. Linear regression models that also control for heteroskedasticity are applied. Findings This study finds that higher investments in health care and education reduce the propensity of the infection spread. Further, states with persistent investments in health care and education exhibit a higher rate of recovery. This study also finds that death rates are significantly lower in states with higher investments in education. Research limitations/implications The findings support the conjecture that states that have consistently invested in social sectors benefited from the associated positive externalities during the crisis that helped them manage the pandemic better. Originality/value This study will help policymakers understand the underlying social forces critical to the success in the fight against pandemics. Apart from improving preparedness for future pandemics, the evidence provided in the paper may help give better direction and purpose to tax-financed public spending in states where social sector development has hitherto received low priority.

Assessing the Impact of Income Inequality on Economic Growth

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohan Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Simon Kuznets ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Modern Perspective

The nature of the relationship between income inequality and economic growth, first formalised by Simon Kuznets in 1950, has come under much debate of late. At present, one understanding of this relationship is that given by what Oded Galor called the ‘modern perspective’, which, pointing the direction of causation from income inequality to economic growth asserts that the former imposes a significantly negative influence on the latter. To investigate the same in the context of India, subsequently, this study adopts the typical cross-country approach taken by other studies in this area and estimates the nature of the aforementioned relationship across a cross-section of Indian states. The results, however, disappointingly contrary to the ‘modern perspective’, show a strong significant positive impact of the existence of inequality on growth rates of Indian states, which, if anything, statistically asserts the existence of a trade-off between the two. JEL Classification: D63, O10, O40, O47

scholarly journals Sustainable Debt Policies of Indian State Governments

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.S. Renjith ◽  
K.R. Shanmugam
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Panel Data Estimation ◽  
Sustainability Issue ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Debt Policies

This study analyses the public debt sustainability issue of 20 major Indian states using the Bohn framework for panel data from 2005–2006 to 2014–2015. It employs regular panel data estimation procedures and the penalized spline (p-spline) technique. The results indicate that the primary balance of state governments responds positively to high public debt, so debt policies are successful in sustaining the debt situation of Indian states as a whole. However, at the individual level, debt is sustainable only in 12 states; in 8 states, debt is unsustainable and so these states require corrective action. These findings may be useful to policymakers and other stakeholders to formulate appropriate strategies to improve the debt situation of Indian states. JEL Classification: E62, H63, H72, H740

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