Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Public Policies on the Sustainable Development Goals through Budget Allocation and Indicators

Abstract

Measuring the advances performed in the 2030 Agenda and the contribution of public policies remains a key issue. Budgets are acknowledged as one of the most powerful tools made available to administrations to push forward this contribution, and so several initiatives have risen to align budget items and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) performance at all levels. The aim of this paper is to go beyond simple alignment and statistically analyze the interlinkages between budget and SDG achievement data. We have used the Spanish local administrations budget, together with indicators used to measure the 2030 Agenda goals at the same level, and computed a correlation test in order to find where budget allocation has an impact. We have then looked further into the relevant impacts to split them into direct and indirect. The research found ca. 25% of the budget items with relevant statistical links to the SDGs, with the SDGs 11 and 15 being the least impacted and SDGs 1, 4, 7, 8 and 16 the most connected ones. This research aims to set the bases of an evidence-based decision-support tool for a more efficient and sustainable policy design.

How Intellectual Capital Predicts Innovation Output in EU Regions: Implications for Sustainable Development

“…This alignment can be reinforced through a focus on convergence, as poorer areas can particularly benefit from the use of new technologies to address pressing environmental problems [82]. This is not only a question of investing sufficient funds, although budget allocation has been linked to particular aspects of sustainable development [83]. More importantly, however, it is a question of investing in a change of mentality, and a greater inclusion of civil society into the smart specialisation process on both the macro and micro scales, from policy decisions to individual projects [82].…”

The Incorporation of the 2030 Agenda in the Design of Local Policies for Social Transformation in Disadvantaged Urban Areas

“…To analyze the sensitivity of the 2030 Agenda with regard to addressing the challenges in disadvantaged urban areas, the first step was to identify the relevant SDGs that influence the dimensions that can generate social inclusion in these areas. The breadth of the 2030 Agenda has encouraged numerous authors to elucidate which SDGs apply to a particular issue, for example, Medina Rey et al (human right to food) [75] [55]. This study did the same by identifying SDGs that affect disadvantaged urban areas.…”

“…Previous analyses that have tried to identify the influence of the 2030 Agenda on local policies have chosen to perform a general evaluation of policies as a whole [46,47]. Notably, the literature has identified the need for other frameworks of analysis to truly determine if local policies adapt to and implement the 2030 Agenda because many times, the references in the design of a policy remain declarative and normative and are not based on instruments, implementation structures, or in the shaping of the beneficiaries of the policies themselves [54][55][56][57].…”

Sustainable Risk Assessment of Resource Industry at Provincial Level in China

“…The sustainable development of China's provincial-level resource industry is mainly constrained by the development of the resource industry sector and environmental pressures. Based on previous research foundations [45][46][47], it is believed that simply considering sectoral trade conditions cannot fully reflect the interaction between industries. This article uses the input-output method to analyze the interaction between the resource industry sector and other industry sectors, and comprehensively analyzes the development of the regional resource industry sector in combination with the trade situation of the sector.…”