Ricardian Equivalence revisited: introductory notes

ABSTRACT These notes aim to revisit the debate, the model, the results, and main objections to the validity of the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem as presented in Barro (1974). It is intended to explore his thesis that tax and debt are equivalent and have no real effect on perceived wealth, demand, the real interest rate or on the economy. The thesis refers to the analysis of the ways of financing debt at a given level of government expenditure and does not address the effects of an expansion of this volume of spending, nor it specifically analyzes the effects of an increase in public debt due to a tax reduction policy. After this presentation, the thesis is debated, consolidating some of the premises that are necessary to validate it. The purpose of the paper is to explore the first round of debates on the theme, explaining the restrictions to which the Barro-Ricardo Theorem or the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem is subject, based on the publications by Barro (1976), Buchanan (1976) and Feldstein (1976), all of them within the ‘realm’ of economic orthodoxy. The final section presents some remarks and an analysis of Barro’s later work (1989 and 1996).

Efficiency Evaluation and Influencing Factors of Government Financial Expenditure on Environmental Protection: An SBM Super-efficiency Model Based on Undesired Outputs

In recent years, the adoption of the precise approach for coordinating socio-economic growth and environmental protection to attain sustainable development has become an urgent challenge to be addressed in China. The current development of environmental governance and the efficiency of government financial expenditure on environmental protection (EPEE) deserves enormous attention. With the aid of the provincial panel data, this study emphasized on the use of the SBM super-efficiency model based on unexpected output to quantify the efficiency of China’s government expenditure on environmental protection from 2013-2018 and constructed the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model to investigate the influencing factors of the government expenditure on environmental protection. The results of the efficiency measurement portray that the aggregate EPEE in China is unsatisfactory. The efficiency value for the western region is greater than that of the central and eastern regions, while the values obtained from the eastern region are above that of the central region. Population size and urbanization level have negative implications on the efficiency value, while the regional economic development level positively promotes the efficiency of the government expenditure on environmental protection. Finally, the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions for policy implementation are outlined accordingly.

Toward economic growth: Income distribution in the era of the COVID19 pandemic in east Kalimantan province

The technological era is a dilemma in the economic growth of a region. The policy of economic development, at least, contains two main objectives to be achieved, namely growth and equity. These two goals are usually in conflict with each other. That is, if growth reaches a high level, then equity reaches a decline so that the conscious effort to create a balance is one of the goals of development. Growth to increase income per capita is an effort in progress to increase output (through the use of factors of production with or without technological change) continuously in the long run, which is always associated with population growth. Because with high output growth coupled with high population growth, the growth of output will become a new problem, so efforts to overcome unemployment are also a crucial part of development. Equitable distribution of fixed income is one of the critical issues faced by an economy. Doing a real business venture so that the rent is more evenly distributed is an essential responsibility of an economic system. The development of an economy will cause changes that are not always good due to the use of labor. This sometimes causes the number and level of unemployment to increase, along with population growth. Finally the paper considers whether there is any evidence of government expenditure, Private investment and poverty rates on Income distribution in East Kalimantan Province is Significantly influenced but Economic is not Growth.

The Turkmen-style economic development

The resource-rich and state-led Turkmen economy has grown very fast since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The authorities have produced a number of various programmes and strategies aimed at improving the standard of living of the citizens and achieving sustainable and inclusive development. Officially, nearly 80% of the national budget in Turkmenistan has been annually allocated for social needs. However, instead of creating opportunities and improving access to these opportunities for the citizens, the authoritarian government chose income redistribution and social spending. The paper identifies key features of the economic development in Turkmenistan and was written base on a critical analysis of state-controlled and independent news websites. The main feature of the Turkmen-style economic development is the growing deprivation of ordinary people. Poor citizens are getting poorer while the president’s relatives and patronage networks are getting richer. Huge gaps between the rural and urban population and tribal divisions have been observed in the country. Moreover, the Soviet-style work holidays continue. Despite significant improvements in infrastructure, provision for education and health care still remains poor in Turkmenistan. The government expenditure for social needs means investment in infrastructure, not human capital.

Agricultural Output, Government Expenditure and Economic Growth in Nigeria: A Gregory-Hansen Cointegration Test with Structural Breaks

The agricultural sector at large plays a significant role in augmenting economic growth, serves as a source of income to the people, provides food to the teeming population, serves as a source of raw materials to the industries and provides foreign exchange to the country, etc. The current study investigates the short-run and long-run relationship among agricultural output, Government expenditure, and Economic growth in Nigeria using annual time series data from 1985 to 2019. The Zivot-Andrew unit root test indicates that gross domestic product, agricultural output, and exchange rate are stationary at first difference while government expenditure is stationary at level. The Gregory-Hansen test with structural break has confirmed the existence of a cointegration relationship among the variables employed. The Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model with break indicates that, in the short-run agricultural output has a negative and statistically insignificant effect on real gross domestic product Nigeria, government expenditure has a positive and statistically significant effect on real gross domestic product in Nigeria, and the exchange rate has a positive and statistically significant effect on real gross domestic product in Nigeria. The break-point coefficient has positive and statistically significant. The long-run result shows that agricultural output has a positive effect on the real gross domestic product in Nigeria, government expenditure has a positive effect on real gross domestic product in Nigeria, and the exchange rate has positive effects on the real gross domestic product in Nigeria. The break coefficient shows positive and statistically significant. The study recommends that the Nigerian government should reduce the lending rate on agriculture and provide incentives to the farmers, this will encourage farmers to borrow and consequently, agricultural output will increase and the Nigerian government should increase its expenditure on agriculture to boost the sector and achieve higher economic growth.

Government Expenditure and Its Effect on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria

This study examined government expenditure and its effect on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria. This was undertaken given that Nigeria is a democratic underdeveloped economy seeking sustainable development. The Millennium Development Goals, the predecessor of SDGs, did not achieve much and now there are the Sustainable Development Goals to finance in the face of a volatile mono-economy, corruption, weak budgetary system, decaying infrastructure and security challenges. The specific objective of this study is to analyze the structure and trend of government expenditure from 1986 to 2020. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. Secondary data was obtained from publications of the Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics, Transparency International and the World Bank. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used for analysis. The findings of the study revealed that recurrent expenditure outlay is higher than capital expenditure, the economic and social service sectors expenditure is inadequate to foster any meaningful sustainable development and, corruption is rife in the country. Hence, the study concludes that there are indications that the SDGs just like its predecessors, the MDGs, is on the verge of achieving poor outcomes if urgent measures are not taken to correct this. So, the study recommends that the structure of government expenditure should be reversed and made adequate; environmental sector expenditure should be disaggregated for easy inference to ensure that the issues of environmental degradation are dealt with; and agencies such as the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigerian Police and other security agencies should be strengthened.

Government expenditure and macroeconomic stability conundrum in Zimbabwe

The objective of this paper was to explore the effect of government expenditure growth on macroeconomic stability in Zimbabwe. Public expenditure has grown over time but as per a priori expectations, other macroeconomic variables have not been forth coming. What the country has actually experienced is prolonged macroeconomic instability. The paper contributes to the body of literature in two ways, (1) by creating a macroeconomic instability index and (2) by being the first in the Zimbabwean context to explore this conundrum. To achieve the main objective of the paper, the study used a cointegrated vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality with data spanning 1981 to 2019. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between government expenditure and macroeconomic stability as argued mostly by the Keynesians. However, according to a priori expectations, the relationship turned out to be rightly negative. To buttress the Cointegrated-VECM results, granger causality tests were also conducted where no causality was found from government spending to macroeconomic stability, and vice versa (causality running from instability to government spending). This paper recommends that, Zimbabwe’s policy makers may need to consider proactive government spending or policies, since that helps the economy to successfully avoid possible risks such as macroeconomic instability. When policies are proactive rather than reactive, that helps by seizing untapped opportunities, and the economy justly avoids consequences of reactive governance.