Welfare spending and quality of growth in developing countries: A note on evidence from Hopefuls, Contenders and Best Performers

Abstract

The transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has shifted the policy debate from growth to 'quality of growth' (QG). We explore a new dataset on QG by the IMF and classify 93 developing countries for the period 1990-2011 in terms of Hopefuls, Contenders and Best Performers. The aims are as follows: (i) to depict the contradiction between high-growth and poor social welfare and (ii) to assess the influence of education and health spending on the QG. We use quantile regressions to articulate least and best QG performers. Two key findings emerge. First, 31 of the 33 countries in the Hopefuls category are in SSA. Second, the effect of health is decreasingly positive from Hopefuls to Best Performers, while the impact of education is increasingly positive. As a main policy implication, it would benefit countries in SSA to invest more in health relative to education now, but decrease such health expenditure and increase education spending as the economies in the sub-region make the transition from Hopeful to Contenders and finally to Best Performers in terms of 'quality of growth'.

Mobile banking usage, quality of growth, inequality and poverty in developing countries

“…The positive covariates have been substantially documented in the bulk of inclusive growth literature (Dollar and Kraay, 2003; Barro and Lee, 2000; Calderon and Servén, 2004; Levine, 2005; Hausmann et al, 2007; IMF, 2007; Mishra, et al, 2011; Anand et al, 2012; Seneviratne and Sun, 2013; Asongu and Nwachukwu, 2016b). We briefly engage the corresponding literature.…”

“…Consistent with recent inclusive growth literature (Anand et al, 2013; Asongu, 2015d; Asongu and Rangan, 2016; Asongu and Nwachukwu, 2016b), the control variables include: education spending, government stability, credit, inflation, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances. A complete definition of the variables is provided in Appendix 1.…”

“…In a quest to provide room for more policy implications, we complement the QGI index with the poverty rate and inequality index. Consistent with recent inclusive growth literature (Anand et al, 2013;Asongu, 2015d;Asongu & Rangan, 2016;Asongu & Nwachukwu, 2016b), the control variables include:…”

Human Development Thresholds for Inclusive Mobile Banking in Developing Countries

“…Hence, the dataset is a cross-section for the year 2011 because of data availability constraints at the time of the study. Consistent with recent inclusive development literature (Anand et al, 2013;Asongu and Nwachukwu 2016c;Asongu and Rangan 2016), the adopted control variables include: education spending, government stability, credit, inflation, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances, while the modifying human development variable is the human development index (HDI). The definitions of the variables are provided in Appendix 1.…”

The Comparative Exploration of Mobile Money Services in Inclusive Development

“…The independent variables of interest or mobile money service indicators from Mosheni-Cheraghlou (2013) In accordance with recent inclusive literature, the control variables entail: education spending, government stability, credit, inflation, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances (Anand et al, 2013;Asongu & Rangan, 2016;Odhiambo, 2009Odhiambo, , 2011Odhiambo, , 2010bOdhiambo, , 2013Asongu & Nwachukwu, 2016). A complete definition of the variables is disclosed in Appendix 1.…”