In this paper we seek a robust methodology to measure the relative public spending efficiency of 19 OECD countries over the period 1980-2000. Based on the functional classification of government expenditure, we decompose total public spending into its separate accounts and we employ a...

This paper empirically examines the relationship between fiscal decentralization and public sector efficiency. A country-level dataset is used to measure public sector efficiency in delivering education and health services and the new indices are regressed on well-established decentralization...

In the last ten years, military expenditures of NATO EU countries (according to NATO definitions and data) have increased by almost 50%, from €145 billion in 2014 to a budget forecast of €215 billion in 2023 (measured in constant 2015 prices). In this context, it is important to assess the...

This study presents a three-sector growth model that consists of manufacturing, private services, and public services, and examines the relationship between sectoral compositions and the tax rate. We identify an optimal tax rate that maximizes instantaneous utility. The optimal tax rate...

The objective of this article is to determine the optimal threshold of public expenditure or optimal size of the State, necessary for economic growth in Cameroon over the period 1982 to 2023. The hypotheses on the conditionality of the optimal allocation of said expenditure at a threshold, and...

Applying the Secondary Standard Deviations method, this book analyzes how to specify the stability or instability in resource allocation under long-term multidimensional public policies. The book proposes a method for characterizing the dynamics of resource allocation, as well as a calculation...

Pakistan has been pursuing an active albeit expansionary fiscal policy since 1970s. In the mid-1970s to early-1980s, such policy choice was manifested in externally financed development spending, primarily in the form of investment in public enterprises. Despite excessive deficit financing,...

As I am writing this book, Russia is invading Ukraine, and the world’s beliefs in global institutions, peace, humanism, and social progress have been shaken again. Understanding why conflict is endemic to any social relation, under which conditions it is a positive element in social life, and...

Groundwater in sufficient amounts and of suitable quality is essential for potable water supplies, crop irrigation and healthy habitats for plant and animal biocenoses. The groundwater resource is currently under severe pressure from land use and pollution and there is evidence of dramatic...

In this paper we employ a choice experiment to test the effect of the institution responsible for the management of an environmental good, on stated preferences. Specifically, we examine whether respondents’ valuation of a forest restoration program in Greece is different under (a) European...