Distributional Impact of Public Expenditure on Education and Healthcare in Nigeria: A Gender Based Welfare Dominance Analysis

Abstract

Investing in education and healthcare is one of the suggested ways the poor can escape from poverty, if properly targeted. The two sectors (education and heaathcare) in Nigeria have experienced various forms of subsidies but surprisingly, the poverty situation in Nigeria aside from deepening has been severe, pervasive and multi-dimensional with the female folk mostly affected by all counts. Based on the above argument, the study assessed how equitably public expenditure in education and healthcare have been well targeted by gender. The study employed the welfare dominance tests to determine the incidence of expenditure and how subsidy has been beneficial to men and women alike. The study found that primary education was absolutely progressive for both sexes while primary healthcare subsidies were just progressive. Interestingly, secondary education was only progressive for female while tertiary education and healthcare for both male and female were regressive and not pro poor.

Africas Human Capital Development: Is Public Finance Management an Effective Strategy?

“…Table 1, regarding the estimated coefficient of public expenditure in model (ii), in the long-run, analogous to model (i) is positive and significant at 10% level, suggesting that public spending on the advancement of literacy rate and provision of better health facilities may stimulate human capital development in Africa. This finding buttresses the empirical work of Amakom (2010). Although, the long-run parameters are usually the major focus in most analysis 3 , with respect to short-run in Table 2, in terms of signs, the results of the three control variables (GDP, inflation and democratic accountability) are somewhat similar to the findings and discussion in Table 1.…”

“…Using the dynamic equilibrium model for 15 Latin American economies, the author argues that infrastructure spending takes over spending on education, government consumption, health in terms of respective positive effects on growth performance, human development, welfare and social progress in the region. Analogously, following the welfare dominance test, Amakom (2010) discovers that public spending on the advance of literacy rate and offering better health facilities could aid poverty reduction. In the author's conclusion, for both male and female, primary education is found to be progressive in Nigeria.…”

The Role of Fiscal Policy in Human Development: The Pakistan’s Perspective

“…Heitger (2001) examined 21 OECD countries and found negative link between the government expenditure and the economic growth from 1960 to 2000. Amakom (2010) suggested that expenditure in the improvement of literacy rate and providing better health facilities could help to eradicate poverty in the economy by using the welfare dominance test. He concluded that primary education was progressive for male and female in Nigeria.…”

The impact of stabilization policies on human development index in Nigeria

“…Ali, Raza, and Yousuf, (2012) affirmed that fiscal management plays a vital role in attaining the objective of economic and human development through the use of public spending in provision of goods and services that increase social welfare, reduce inequality and other constraining factors to development. Amakom (2010) suggested that expenditure in the improvement of literacy rate and providing better health facilities could help to eradicate poverty and promote welfare in the economy. In addition to the dominant tools and channels of government spending and taxation, other fiscal policy tools include public debt; fiscal stimulus and operations; national budget, loan conditionalities, subsidies and palliatives among others.…”