Public Expenditure in Latin America: Trends and Key Policy Issues

De: Equity, Health & Human Development [mailto:EQUIDAD@LISTSERV.PAHO.ORG]
Em nome de Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)Enviada em: quinta-feira, 7 de junho de 2007 10:01
Para: EQUIDAD@LISTSERV.PAHO.ORG
Assunto: [EQ] Public Expenditure in Latin America: Trends and Key Policy Issues
Public Expenditure in Latin America: Trends and Key Policy Issues

Benedict Clements, Christopher Faircloth, and Marijn Verhoeven
International Monetary Fund - IMF’s Fiscal Affairs and Western Hemisphere Departments, 2007

Available online as PDF file [36p.] at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2007/wp0721.pdf

“…….This paper examines trends in government spending in Latin America from the mid-1990s to 2006. It also examines key policy issues, including the cyclicality of spending, public investment, public employment, and social expenditures. It finds that primary expenditures have trended upward for the past ten years as a share of GDP, driven by increases in current spending, in particular for social expenditures.

Fluctuations in real spending have continued to follow a procyclical pattern. The paper finds that there is substantial scope to improve the efficiency of public investment, public employment, and social spending….”

Content
I. Introduction
II. Trends in Public Spending
A. Overview of Aggregate Fiscal Trends
B. Trends in Government Expenditure
III. Key Expenditure Policy Issues
A. The Cyclicality of Government Spending
B. Public Investment
C. Public Sector Employment
D. Social Spending
IV. Summary and Policy Implications
Appendices
I. Econometric Methodology Used to Assess the Cyclicality of Spending
II. The Efficiency of Public Investment in Latin America
References