In this paper we verify and quantify the convergence trend of public social expenditure at European Union level (27 countries), as well as between Western European (WE) and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries between 1995 and 2022, structured on the three social sectors (health care,...

The reform of the European fiscal rules came into force on 30 April 2024. The new rules, like the former ones, impose a depressive bias on domestic fiscal policies, leaving Member States' no fiscal room for manoeuvre. At the same time, the European Pillar of Social Rights sets ambitious targets...

This study aims to analyze the effect of remittances on multidimensional poverty in Mexico by comparing them with other sources of household income, such as labor income and social spending from transfers, subsidies, and allocations. Furthermore, economic growth dynamism is incorporated as a...

This paper analyzes the significance and effectiveness of social spending targets in IMF-supported programs in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2002 to 2024. It highlights the evolution of these targets, particularly following the 2009 reform of IMF’s facilities for low-income countries, reflecting a...

In this paper we verify and quantify the convergence trend of public social expenditure at European Union level (27 countries), as well as between Western European (WE) and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries between 1995 and 2022, structured on the three social sectors (health care,...

This study presents evidence on the effect of fiscal policies on poverty and inequality in Ghana for the 2017 fiscal year based on the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) assess- ment framework. Also, the CEQ framework was used to simulate the short-term distri- butional consequences ('morning-after'...

In this paper, we use a static fiscal incidence analysis model to evaluate the poverty and inequality impacts of using fiscal policy to finance expanded social spending in South Africa. We assess three methods to enhance the social protection system's equity objectives: increasing the size...

In many OECD countries, the majority of social spending is financed from earmarked revenues, and a large share of revenues earmarked for any type of government spending is used for social purposes. Tying revenue sources to specific expenditure categories has a number of potential advantages and...

This paper explores the link between default risk and fiscal procyclicality. We show that countries with higher sovereign risk have a more procyclical fiscal expenditure policy, which is driven mostly by transfers. We build a small open economy model with income inequality, social transfers, and...

We contribute to the long-standing debate on the Italian North-South divide by assessing the impact of public spending on social infrastructure - including education, healthcare, childcare and social assistance - on the gender employment gap over the last two decades, using a PSVAR analysis....

This paper examines the distributional effects of fiscal policy in Grenada. Using data from the 2017-2018 Living Conditions and Household Budgets Survey and following the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) analysis framework, we estimate the effects of fiscal policy interventions on inequality and...

The extent of social and economic issues has an impact on current society, and ways of solving them reflect not only on social policy but also on results of economic policies. The paper aims to evaluate the effects of social protection expenditures/benefits in relation to selected socio-economic...

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form the edifice of sustainable future and an inclusive growth. Indian state of Odisha has made significant progress in human development in the recent years, however, in comparison to several other Indian states it still lags behind. This...

Ghana administers multiple social protection programs. One, pensions provided by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust, has a long history, but the rest of the programs have been introduced and expanded over the past two decades. This study assesses the performance of the government...