Economic growth and government spending in Malaysia: a re-examination of Wagner and Keynesian views

By making use of annual data from Malaysia for the period 1970 to 2006, this paper examines Wagner’s law and the Keynesian hypothesis concerning the link between real government spending and real GDP. Unlike most existing studies, we utilize both a bivariate and a multivariate model. In addition, we consider two cases: one that focuses on the link between aggregate government spending and GDP and the other where the link between government spending on education and GDP is considered. The use of a multivariate model serves to reduce the problem of serious misspecification which appears to have been ignored by most existing studies. The presence of cointegration is investigated by means of Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. This approach also allows one to distinguish between the short and the long-run relationships. Within the context of a bivariate model, our empirical analysis reveals that aggregate government spending Granger causes the real GDP which supports Wagner’s law. However, in a multivariate framework, we found support for the Keynesian hypothesis suggesting that omitted variables bias can significantly alter the validity of Wagner’s law.     

Lethal Regulation: State-Corporate Crime and the United Kingdom Government's New Mercenaries

Markets for private military security are enjoying a period of sustained growth, during which there has been a repackaging of 'mercenary outfits' and 'private armies' as legitimate, fully incorporated private military companies (PMCs). This paper presents a critique of the dominant view of the new mercenaries and examines the regulation of private military security currently being proposed by the United Kingdom government, arguing that its purpose should be understood as the facilitation rather than the restraint of those markets. States are playing a formative role in the expansion of private military markets. In contrast to the dominant themes of the literature on globalization, the emergence of those markets should be understood as an expansion rather than a diminution of the coercive and violent capacities of states. Western states are facilitating new modes of delivering terror and violence that are also likely to increase, rather than reduce, the incidence of state-corporate crimes.     

Military spending,liberal institutions and state compliance with international environmental agreements

The current paper examines the dynamics of state security behavior and international environmental protection. In particular, the study provides a liberal institutional approach in identifying a “guns and butter” relationship between military spending and state participation with international environmental agreements. This cross-national study employs both bivariate and multivariate regression models to analyze the relationship between military expenditures and state participation with international environmental agreements, particularly examining the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The empirics of the study suggest that states with higher military expenditures as a percent of GDP are less likely to comply with international environmental agreements. Theoretical and empirical implications are presented in the conclusion section.     

Government Type and Public Spending in Africa

How does government composition affect government spending in Africa’s democracies? Many scholars have examined the political, institutional, and ideological determinants of government spending, finding that government attributes can affect government spending levels. However, many of these studies have focused on OECD countries, largely overlooking the link between government spending and government composition in African democracies. I examine support for two existing theories about the characteristics of governments that can lead to increases in spending levels: the number of parties in government and the number of ministers. I assess empirical evidence for these theories using original data on government composition in 19 African countries from 1990 to 2015 and data on government spending from the World Bank. I find that a coalition at the time the budget is passed is associated with increased spending, but the number of cabinet ministers does not appear to systematically affect levels of government spending.     

The impact of Federal Alcohol and Drug Abuse block grants on state and local government substance abuse program expenditures: the role of federal oversight

Are the federal Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ADA) block grant funds substituting for or supplementing state and local government spending on substance abuse? Using panel data on state and local government substance abuse programs, this study explores the fiscal effects of the ADA block grant money and the increased enforcement (after 1989) of federal restrictions on state spending of ADA block grants. The findings here reveal that for the current period, the federal ADA grant has no statistically significant effect on state and local government substance abuse spending both before and after 1989, and the increased enforcement of federal restrictions on the ADA grants after 1989 does not change this result. An additional finding is that lagged ADA grants have had a large effect on substance abuse spending both before and after 1989--a feature of the program not considered in previous studies.     

Halfway competitive markets and ineffective regulation: the American health care system

Since the late 1960s the U.S. has attempted to develop a strategy for controlling the rate of growth of health care spending. During the 1970s this strategy relied heavily on various forms of regulation. Some regulatory programs were partially successful in moderating spending increases, but they generated significant opposition--particularly from powerful provider groups, who successfully convinced Congress and the states to dismantle most of the regulatory structure and to substitute various forms of competitive approaches to controlling spending. Some of these competitive strategies have been successful in increasing the efficiency of subsections of our health system. But they too have produced "losers," and the government has been pressured to enter the system to minimize their losses. The net result has been a political stalemate between halfway competitive markets and ineffective regulation. With the rate of health care spending growth near historic levels, it is likely that the 1990s will bring a return to a stronger role for government regulation. But it is unlikely that we are any more willing to tolerate the negative fallout from regulation today than we were in the 1970s, and therefore we predict that the proportion of GNP going to health care will continue to grow throughout the remainder of this century.     

社会参与反恐的政策路径选择

传统反恐怖工作多依赖于军队、警察与安全情报机构,因此在职责上侧重于打击和远程防范,并以政府机构作为提供社会安全的主体,组织结构以科层等级制为架构,在反恐工作中充满神秘色彩。但是反恐应对工作与公共突发事件应急管理尤其是后果管理机制上有其相似之处,因此如果将反恐工作流程进行细分,则为社会公众及组织提供了可以参与的机会。目前社会参与反恐的政策上主要有被动宣教、主动支援以及使用非正式武装力量等三种可供选择,并将成为反恐工作的重要组成部分。     

The role of group interest,identity, and stigma in determining mental health policy preferences

Public attitudes toward mental health present an interesting puzzle. While mental health is one aspect of general health and well-being, it receives less support for government spending increases than does health care. One explanation lies with the stigma that is attached to mental illness. This stigma produces more negative attitudes on policy issues related to persons with mental illness such as government spending for mental health. However, group identification, as defined by personal experience or a family member who has experienced a mental illness, may have a strong effect on these attitudes. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey's module on mental health. I examine this and other hypotheses and find evidence that group identification increases the likelihood of increased support for government spending for mental health. These robust findings exist even in quantitative models, which include politically relevant variables and measure identification with mental illness in two different ways. These findings suggest that mental health is policy for the few because those most supportive of government spending increases are persons who share the common identity of experiencing mental illness.     

肯尼亚的纳税人诉讼——公共资金支出权的司法审查

尽管肯尼亚设计了精巧的宪法机制控制公共支出,但肯尼亚公共资金管理不善的情形仍然大量存在.在肯尼亚政府公共资金支出的政治调控远远不够的情形下,法院接受纳税人诉讼以阻止公共资金的非法支出所引起的对公众的损害.纳税人诉讼是指任何已经为其不动产或动产缴纳了税收的人代表所有的纳税人所提起的诉讼.法院享有足够的裁量权去决定哪些案件里纳税人有诉讼资格,这使法院能够在对政府行为进行审查和保证政府正常运作之间保持平衡.纳税人诉讼将不仅大大有助于对公共支出的控制,而且也给予政府足够的财政空间实施其任务.     

Economic freedom and economic growth in India: What is the empirical relationship?

The recent moves of the Indian economy towards further opening up of the economy with less government control has brought about changes in its policy structure. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that greater economic freedom leads to higher levels of economic growth in a federal system like India where business regulations, taxation, and government spending differ widely across states. Pooled linear regression model is applied to categorical data containing economic freedom and its three components as independent variables, and growth rates of income per capita and gross state domestic product as dependent variable, for a panel of twenty states for three time periods, 2004/2005, 2006/2007 and 2009/2010. While examining this relationship, the variables like initial income per capita, initial literacy rate, sectoral composition, and inflation rate are taken as control. The results tend to establish the fundamental effects of economic freedom in fostering economic growth. Three individual dimensions of economic freedom namely size of government, strong rule of law, and flexible regulations governing credit, labour, and product markets are likely to exert beneficial impacts on income growth. Initial income per capita exerts a positive impact, thus proving the prevalence of regional divergence on this front. High human capital, greater share of the services and inflation exert direct impact on growth.     

The Role of the People’s Armed Police in Chinese Policing

This study examines the role of the People’s Armed Police (PAP) in Chinese policing. While the PAP has been in existence for over five decades, very little research has paid attention to the critical position that the PAP occupies in Chinese policing. The history of the PAP between 1949 and 1982 was highlighted by a number of changes in name and a constant change of direct control between the military and the public security. The PAP experienced a great expansion and became more stabilized in organizational structure and missions after 1983. While it is part of China’s military forces, the PAP is currently involved in a wide variety of law enforcement, order maintenance, and service activities. Its law enforcement function is carried out chiefly through preventive patrol in urban areas. The most important order maintenance function shouldered by the PAP is the disposition of mass incidents, which have increased dramatically in number and size and have become better organized over the past two decades. The Chinese government also often mobilizes the PAP to undertake emergency rescue and disaster relief tasks. The PAP will continue to be a critical force in the Chinese police system. Its leaders as well as the government should seek ways to improve the legitimacy of the force.     

The electoral budget cycle on municipal police expenditure

This paper analyzes the effects of electoral cycles on municipal police expenditure. We use a database with information on Spanish municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants for the period 2001–2008. Our data show that incumbents increase police spending 1 year before the elections, thus we confirm an electoral budget cycle on police expenditure in Spain. We also find that conservative parties are associated with increased spending on public safety. Population has a positive and significant impact on police expenditures per capita, which indicates diseconomies of scale. The theory on sub-national government spending shows that intergovernmental transfers per capita and taxes per capita are believed to impact local expenditures. Our model fits this assumption, showing a significant and positive influence of both variables on police expenditures. Finally, our model reports a positive impact of both immigration and economic level on police spending.     

台湾地区军事司法的价值取向——以军事司法审级制度为视角

军事司法主要有两大价值,即秩序安全价值和权利保障价值。台湾地区军事司法的价值取向经历了维护军事秩序和安全的一元价值到秩序安全优先于权利保障、秩序安全和权利保障并重的二元价值的发展过程。军事司法价值取向的发展变化是台湾地区军事司法制度现代转型的内在动因,其突出表现是在军事司法审级制度方面,1956年之前实行一审一核制,1956年以后实行复判制度,1990年末改为实行上诉制度。在军事司法制度的改革和完善过程中,坚持以军人权利保障为基本价值理念,以促进当事人诉讼权利和实现司法公正为出发点和归宿。     

A Socio-Legal Approach to Administrative Justice

The first part of this article outlines two complementary approaches to enhancing administrative justice. Internal mechanisms, which can be put into place by government departments and public bodies themselves, are contrasted with external mechanisms, which result in the imposition on government departments and public bodies of principles enunciated by courts, tribunals, and ombudsmen. Lawyers are all too familiar with the external approach but tend to be much less familiar with the internal approach. The article seeks to redress this imbalance. It emphasizes the importance of the internal approach, not as an alternative but, rather, as a complement to the external approach and develops a framework for analyzing administrative justice in terms of "trade-offs" between different normative models of administrative decision-making. The second part of the article demonstrates how this approach to the study of administrative justice has informed research on the impact of computerization on social security in the United Kingdom; on decision making in the Scottish prison system; on the assessment of special educational needs in England and Scotland; and on the computerization of social security in thirteen countries. The article concludes by attempting to show that this approach to the study of administrative justice satisfies all the defining characteristics of the socio-legal paradigm.     

Military spending and economic growth: a panel data investigation

Economic Change and Restructuring - The present study examines the worldwide effect of military spending on economic growth for the period 1960–2017 utilizing the dynamic common correlated...     

The politics of discretionary Medicaid spending, 1980-1993

Why do some states choose to spend more than four times as much as others to provide health care to the disadvantaged? Political scientists who have traditionally explored this question by analyzing trends in overall Medicaid expenditures lumped states' discretionary spending in with other money that states are mandated to spend. Analyses of total expenditures found that socioeconomic factors drove spending but that party control of state legislatures made no difference in health policy making. By isolating discretionary state Medicaid expenditures from total spending figures, I reexamine the influences of political as well as economic and demographic factors. The often-doubted importance of party control becomes clear. This study investigates spending patterns in the discretionary portions of state Medicaid programs in forty-six states from 1980 to 1993 and analyzes both incremental program changes and absolute differences in state spending. To discover how greatly the researcher's choice of dependent variables can affect results, optional spending is separated from total spending levels and the variation is modeled in both. Focusing not on the spending that the federal government requires of state officials but on the policies that state officials actually choose allows a balanced exploration of both political and economic effects on welfare expenditures. This research also provides new insights about which forces will shape policy decisions if more and more control of the public health care system is devolved to the states.     

Lessons from Germany: some reflections occasioned by Schulenburg's "report"

Germany created the first national health insurance scheme, and its turbulent history has carried many lessons for all other countries. Health care financing--like all social security financing--redistributes wealth and inevitably is caught up in class politics. Cost-sharing by patients is not a neutral device in social engineering to improve efficiency, but it is a gambit in distributive politics. Health care involves the wealth and power of the doctors, and they become militant and successful forces in social politics. The forces for higher spending are stronger than the forces for restraint. Only exceptional political will be government can control costs.     

Institutional law and economics

Behavioral economics provides one of the foundation for institutional law and economics (ILE). Improvement in predicting the performance of alternative laws will be built on ILE insights into how distribution affects productivity of labor and realization of joint gains. Our understanding of obedience to law as well as other categories of failure to be opportunistic (such as in high exclusion-cost situations) will be better understood from an ILE perspective that investigates learning to supplement specific sanctions.The boundaries of ILE inquiry encompass private property rights, regulation, and public spending and taxation since these are complements and substitutes. Public spending is not a good measure of the size of government, and regulation is not the opposite of freedom in the aggregate. This framework of ILE can usefully be seen as distinctive, even if all of its practitioners do not use the label and several of its propositions are shared with other paradigms. A better label might simply be institutional economics or political economy.     

Growth,debt and public infrastructure

This paper presents a closed economy model of endogenous growth driven by capital externalities arising from both private capital and public infrastructure. The model is calibrated to fit data for India, an approximately closed economy. Simulations suggest that fiscal policy certainly matters and the choice of the income taxation rate, the mix of government spending between infrastructure and public consumption goods, and the long-run government debt/GDP ratio can all significantly affect the long-run growth rate. Intertemporal aspects of fiscal policy are also important and the precommitment (time-inconsistent) and non-precommitment policies differ substantially.     

Private Military and Security Companies and the Liberal Conception of Violence

Abstract

The institution of war is the broad framework of rules, norms, and organizations dedicated to the prevention, prosecution, and resolution of violent conflict between political entities. Important parts of that institution consist of the accountability arrangements that hold between armed forces, the political leaders who oversee and direct the use of those forces, and the people in whose name the leaders act and from whose ranks the members of the armed forces are drawn. Like other parts of the institution, these arrangements are responsive to changes in military technology and needs, to geopolitical facts, and to moral and political norms. In particular, they are sensitive to the forms that military organization takes. Since the emergence of modern states in Europe some 500 years ago, there have been three main such forms: private providers—in the form of mercenaries, in early modern Europe—then professional standing armies, which in turn developed into citizen armies. Although elements of the three organizations have coexisted in many armies, the citizen army model has dominated until recently. That model brought with it a particular conception of the accountability relations between the army, the state, and the people. The state had authority over and directed the army, which was accountable to it. In turn the state was accountable for its use of the army to the people, on whose behalf it acted.

The dominance of state authority over the military is now under strain, with the professional and private elements—in the form of private military and security companies (PMSCs)—having increasing importance. As those elements increase in power and presence, so it becomes more difficult to make the state accountable to the people for its use of the military, and more difficult for the people to act as a restraining force on the way in which the military used.

In this essay, I outline and assess these developments—with particular emphasis on the emergence of PMSCs—in the light of a liberal view of (political) violence. The essay focuses on the situation in the United States, which possesses by far the most important military force in the world today, and in which the use of PMSCs is most developed. The paper has three main sections and a brief conclusion: the first section sketches the liberal view of violence and its implications for organizations dedicated to its use; the second outlines the salient characteristics of the three historically dominant forms of armies; and the third looks at the current situation in which the three forms coexist uneasily.