|
AgEcon Search >
University of Maryland >
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics >
Working Papers >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://purl.umn.edu/45875
|
| Title: | When Government Spending Serves the Elites: Consequences for Economic Growth in a Context of Market Imperfections |
| Authors: | Lopez, Ramon
Islam, Asif |
| Authors (Email): | Lopez, Ramon (RLopez@arec.umd.edu)
Islam, Asif (AIslam@arec.umd.edu) |
| Keywords: | government spending
economic growth
market imperfections
investment
subsidies |
| Issue Date: | 2008 |
| Series/Report no.: | Working Papers
WP 08-13 |
| Abstract: | Government spending should be regarded as a social and political phenomenon, not merely as a technical choice. We argue that there is an implicit contract between the organized elites and politicians which often leads to a pro-elite allocation of public resources. A natural and simple taxonomy of government spending follows from this view: spending in public goods broadly defined which mitigate market failures versus spending in non-social subsidies, mainly a vehicle to serve the elites. We theoretically and empirically show that pro-elite spending biases are costly in terms of economic growth. The empirical findings are exceptionally robust. |
| URI: | http://purl.umn.edu/45875 |
| Institution/Association: | University of Maryland>Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics>Working Papers |
| Total Pages: | 58 |
| Collections: | Working Papers
|
Files in This Item:
| File |
Description |
Size | Format |
|---|
| 08-13.pdf | | 380Kb | PDF | View/Open |
|
Recommend this item
All items in AgEcon Search are protected by copyright.
|
