Subnational Health Spending and Soft Budget Constraints in OECD Countries
June 1, 2010
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Summary
Government spending on health has grown as a percent of GDP over the last 40 years in industrialized countries. Widespread decentralization of healthcare systems has often accompanied this increase in spending. In this paper, we explore the effect of soft budget constraints on subnational health spending in a sample of OECD countries. We find countries where subnational governments rely primarily on central government financing and enjoy large borrowing autonomy have higher healthcare spending than those with more restrictions on subnational government borrowing.
Subject: Expenditure, Fiscal stabilization, Health, Health care spending, Total expenditures
Keywords: autonomy, country, government, health spending, spending, WP
Pages:
26
Volume:
2010
DOI:
Issue:
147
Series:
Working Paper No. 2010/147
Stock No:
WPIEA2010147
ISBN:
9781455201303
ISSN:
1018-5941
