Government Spending, Rights, and Civil Liberties

December 1, 2000

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Format: Chicago

Government Spending, Rights, and Civil Liberties, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2000) accessed November 8, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Government spending plays a critical role in protecting and enforcing rights and civil liberties. Empirical evidence for a sample of industrial and developing countries shows that government expenditures on defense, law and order, social security, education, and health care are associated with three rights indicators—property rights, equality of citizens before the law, and economic freedom. In particular, an increase in spending on law and order seems to improve the indicators of rights and civil liberties, and lower budget deficits seem to improve property rights and equality before the law. Of great importance is the finding that corruption is associated with worse rights indicators.

Subject: Budget planning and preparation, Education, Expenditure, Health care, Total expenditures

Keywords: Equality before the law, Expenditure program, Expenditure variable, Government spending, Rights indicator, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

26
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2000/205
Stock No:

WPIEA2052000
ISBN:

9781451874549
ISSN:

1018-5941

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