In Mexico, the management of public resources has been questioned by the State, and mainly the results that the public administration at its three levels (federal, state and municipal), by the lack of transparency in the application and verification of public resources. The experience that gives us the operation of different emerging programs that focused on reducing social and economic inequality in the country, we can locate them as the first attempts in the search for a solution (...) that is complex. Moving from the role of the benefactor and welfare state to the promoter of the regions and in the recognition of the focalization of priority attention areas, the path that has been taken is not only the beginning. Recognizing the public nature of public finances as a promoter of social development, we must understand it as the one assumed by the State through social, political and economic co-responsibility to solve poverty and marginalization of its own public policy orientation and vision of solution has been made since the eighties. From the above, we can point out some preliminary conclusions including the study of the indigenous language-speaking population with a high level of social exclusion in the methodology for the definition of multidimensional poverty in Mexico, will allow the allocation of public resources in the fight against poverty to be effective since it will make it possible to identify to the target population that is subject to social exclusion and marginalization. This invites us to a final reflection: What to do to address the just social demands of the indigenous population that is immersed in poverty, marginalization and exclusion? What to do so that they do not leave their communities, and if they have already done so, how to attend to the needs of family groups that are due to the expense of a remittance that may never arrive? (shrink)

Goal – The aim of the article is to identify dysfunctional phenomena (implementation of specific mechanisms/solutions and actions taken), generating increased opacity and limit the responsibility/accountability of public finance in Poland, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Methods – descriptive analysis, comparative analysis and financial analysis methods were used. Results – fiscal transparency and accountability in Poland is limited by: the marginalisation of the role of the state budget, the loosening of the stabilising expenditure rule, the creation of financial mechanisms (...) based on special funds fed by repayable financing sources for the implementation of state tasks, inter alia, in the fight against the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, the use of national and EU methodologies for calculating the deficit and debt of the public sector in order to conceal part of them, the lack of a consolidated financial statement of the public finance sector. (shrink)

The United States, unlike all other industrialized nations, does not have a comprehensive public system for financing health care. Nevertheless, the magnitude of America's public health care financing effort is remarkable. Of the one trillion dollars the United States spent on health care in 1996, almost half, $483.1 billion, was spent by public programs. In 1995, Medicare—our social insurance program for persons over sixty-five and the long-term disabled—overed 37.5 million Americans; Medicaid—our program for indigent elderly and disabled (...) persons and indigent children and their families—covered 36.3 million. In 1996, Medicare and Medicaid spent $203.1 and $147.7 billion, respectively. The payment policies of these massive public health care programs have a profound effect on the provision of health care.Many of the recipients of Medicare and Medicaid suffer pain. In 1994, 376,200 Americans over age sixty-five died of cancer. Virtually all of these would have been Medicare recipients, and as many as 70 percent of them died in unrelieved pain. Nearly four million Americans over sixty-five endured the pain of inpatient surgery in 1995, again nearly all of whom were Medicare recipients. (shrink)

The United States, unlike all other industrialized nations, does not have a comprehensive public system for financing health care. Nevertheless, the magnitude of America's public health care financing effort is remarkable. Of the one trillion dollars the United States spent on health care in 1996, almost half, $483.1 billion, was spent by public programs. In 1995, Medicare—our social insurance program for persons over sixty-five and the long-term disabled—overed 37.5 million Americans; Medicaid—our program for indigent elderly and disabled (...) persons and indigent children and their families—covered 36.3 million. In 1996, Medicare and Medicaid spent $203.1 and $147.7 billion, respectively. The payment policies of these massive public health care programs have a profound effect on the provision of health care.Many of the recipients of Medicare and Medicaid suffer pain. In 1994, 376,200 Americans over age sixty-five died of cancer. Virtually all of these would have been Medicare recipients, and as many as 70 percent of them died in unrelieved pain. Nearly four million Americans over sixty-five endured the pain of inpatient surgery in 1995, again nearly all of whom were Medicare recipients. (shrink)

There is great diversity in in vitro fertilization (IVF) funding and reimbursement policies and practice throughout Europe and the rest of the world. While many existing reimbursement and regulatory frameworks address safety and legal concerns, economic factors also assume a central role. However, there are several problems with the evidence that is available on the economics of IVF. This suggests there is a need for more robust cost-effectiveness studies. It also indicates the need for alternative rationales to justify the reimbursement (...) of IVF, which might more fully account for the social, political, ethical, and philosophical considerations embedded in notions of infertility and technology-driven reproductive treatments. The merits and limitations of five alternative rationales are discussed. The review suggests that while no existing single rationale provides a complete framework with which to support funding decisions, taken together they provide guideposts which signal important issues for consideration and highlight where further research, action, and debate are needed. (shrink)

There is a wide variety of ethical arguments for public financing of health care that share a common structure built on a series of four logically related propositions regarding: the ultimate purpose of a human life or human society; the role of health and its distribution in society in advancing this ultimate purpose; the role of access to or utilisation of health care in maintaining or improving the desired level and distribution of health among members of society, and the (...) role of public financing in ensuring the ethically justified access to and utilisation of health care by members of society. This paper argues that economics has much to contribute to the development of the ethical foundations for publicly financed health care. It focuses in particular on recent economic work to clarify the concepts of access and need and their role in analyses of the just distribution of health care resources, and on the importance of economic analysis of health care and health care insurance markets in demonstrating why public financing is necessary to achieve broad access to and utilisation of health care services. (shrink)

This study examines whether Canadian governments have adapted budgets for the ageing population in accordance with norms of intergenerational justice. Public finance data in 2016 are analysed compared to 1976 in light of three constructs: the elderly/non-elderly ratio of social spending change, intergenerational reciprocity, and ability to pay. Findings include that governments increased per capita spending for seniors 4.2 times faster than for those under the age of 45; public finance requires younger Canadians to contribute 22%-62% more in (...) income taxes for the elderly now by comparison with 1976; and the contemporary ageing population has a greater ability to pay than cohorts immediately before and after them. (shrink)

Introduction. The relevance of the research topic is determined by the necessity to study financial phenomena and processes in order to understand the economic essence of public finance in the life of society. The strategic imperative for the formation of public finance is the development of an appropriate provision for its implementation, adequate to the complex and changeable circumstances of the territory development. The main purpose of the study is to identify the features of performing the functions of (...) public finance for regions with a specific mode of operating. Methods. When solving the tasks, the author uses general logical methods: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy; empirical level methods: observation, description, measurement, modeling, as well as private and special methods of scientific research: comparative analysis, system approach, the Robinsonade model (Crusoe model). Scientific novelty of the research. The scientific novelty of the results lies in solving an important scientific problem - identifying the features of implementing the allocative function of public finance in the regions with a specific mode of operating (as exemplified by the Donetsk People’s Republic, where there is a special military and political situation, a mobilization type of economy, a transitional period due to the integration of the Republic into the system of the Russian Federation federal relations) in order to improve the system of public finance management in such regions. Results. The main results of the study consist in characterizing the process of implementing the allocation function of public finance, which makes it possible to determine the maximum effect of economic actions of the subjects in the current conditions, as well as to lay the foundations for analyzing the following distribution function of public finance. Conclusions. The author makes a conclusion that in the context of strengthening the role of public finance, not only in ensuring the economic development of the Donetsk People’s Republic, but also in the post-crisis recovery and stabilization of business activity, the implementation of the allocation function of public finance becomes important. (shrink)

Presents a collection of essays on fiscal policies, economic policies, and tax reforms in the context of financial reforms as a separate discipline of economics. Edited by Ameresh Bagchi, these essays are authored by reputed academicians in this field, such as James Buchanan, Joseph Stiglitz, Raja Chelliah, and Richard Musgrave.

The central question of this book is whether the assignment of government functions to the individual jurisdictions in a federal state can ensure an optimal allocation of resources and a fair income distribution. The analysis thereby gives a new answer to the old question about the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization in a federal state. It shows that fiscal decentralization is a method to disclose the preferences of currently living and future generations for local public goods, to limit the (...) size of the government, and to avoid excessive public debt finance. While the allocative branch of the government benefits from fiscal decentralization, it is difficult to obtain a distribution of incomes that differs from the outcome that the market brings along. (shrink)

This paper assesses James M. Buchanan's claim of following a positive approach in stark contrast to the normative approach to public finance of Richard A. Musgrave. The goal of this paper is to shed light on the foundations of modern American public finance by analysing one aspect of the methodology of its two most prominent fathers. I show (1) that it is difficult to distinguish Musgrave's and Buchanan's theories of public goods along the positive/normative dividing line and (...) (2) that Buchanan's theory can also be considered normative. In the first three parts, I follow the Weberian methodological tradition in looking for value judgements in the theories, and by reflecting on the nature of ideal types. In the last part, I propose a broader interpretation of Buchanan's methodological stance within the academic context of the 1960s. (shrink)

Economists commit a category mistake when they treat democratic governments as indebted. Monarchs can be indebted, as can individuals. In contrast, democracies can't truly be indebted. They are financial intermediaries that form a bridge between what are often willing borrowers and forced lenders. The language of public debt is an ideological language that promotes politically expressed desires and is not a scientific language that clarifies the practice of public finance. Economists have gone astray by assuming that a government (...) is just another person whose impulses toward prudent action will restrict recourse to public debt and induce rational political action. (shrink)

Competitive Governments, explores in a systematic way the hypothesis that governments are internally competitive, that they are competitive in their relations with each other and in their relations with other institutions in society which, like them, supply consuming households with goods and services. Breton contends that competition not only serves to bring the political system to an equilibrium, but it also leads to a revelation of the households' true demand functions for publicly provided goods and services and to the molding (...) of a link between the quantities and the qualities demanded and supplied and the tax prices paid for these goods and services. In the real world where information is costly, the links may not be first-best, but they will be efficient if competition is vigorous. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to analyse the provisions regulating the organisation and principles of financial management of the COVID-19 Counteracting Fund in the context of progressive debudgetisation of public finances. The first part presents the concept, sources and effects of debudgetisation of public finances, with emphasis on earmarked funds as the basic example of this process. The second part assesses the regulations concerning the organisation and tasks of the COVID-19 Counteracting Fund, and presents the sources of (...) financing and the principles of financial management. Using methods according to contemporary legal, economic and financial principles (in particular, a critical review of the literature on the subject, legal acts, and analysis of statistical data), basic features determining the actual nature and role of the COVID-19 Counteracting Fund in the collection and spending of public money were verified. The hypothesis that this institution (despite not having the status of a state earmarked fund in the normative sense) is a kind of para-budget with typical functions of public finances was confirmed. The creation of the COVID-19 Counteracting Fund resulted in the exclusion of some finances of a public nature from the general pool, intended primarily for tasks related to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The adoption of such a solution is part of a trend of increasing deviations from the principle of completeness of the state budget noticeable in recent years, which has led to excessive debudgetisation of the state budget. This, in turn, is not conducive to maintaining transparency and rationality in the collection and spending of public funds, which are prescribed by the doctrine. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Die öffentliche Finanzierung von Sportangeboten erfolgt aktuell in Form der einseitigen und pauschalen Subventionierung selbstverwalteter Sportanbieter. Diese ist in verteilungspolitischer Hinsicht wenig zielgenau und fuhrt in allokativer Hinsicht zu einer Verzerrung des wettbewerblichen Marktprozesses. Deshalb wird als alternative Finanzierungsform die Subjektförderung erörtert. Als konkrete Gestaltungsvariante wird das Sportgeld, eine individuell zu beantragende und zweckgebundene Erhöhung des Einkommens für Nachfrager nach sportlicher Betätigung, präferiert. Das Sportgeld ermöglicht die gezielte Förderung sozio-ökonomisch benachteiligter Gesellschaftsmitglieder und ist weitgehend frei von unerwünschten Nebenwirkungen auf (...) den Marktprozess. Es bietet die Voraussetzung zur Internalisierung der positiven externen Effekte im Sportbereich und lässt insgesamt Wirtschaftlichkeitsvorteile erwarten. (shrink)

The conclusion emerging from the analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public finances in Spain and in Poland in the years 2020–2021 shows that the effects should be considered in the short-term and long-term perspectives. The short-term perspective is featured by deterioration of the budget condition and the public debt ratio of both countries in the first year of the pandemic, and an improvement of the situation in 2021. The effects of the pandemic for (...) class='Hi'>public finances were far more severe in Spain, which – viewed objectively – resulted from the fact that financing of the support programmes was to a larger extent based on funds from the state budget. In Poland the impact of these expenditures on the budget was relatively insignificant since the majority of the outlays were taken outside of the state budget, and even out of the sphere of public finances. As a consequence, the budget deficit remained at a moderate level and the debt of the public sector in relation to GDP was half that of Spain. Despite the fact that the condition of public finances was markedly worse there after two years of combating COVID-19, it was decisively more transparent. Admittedly, the model introduced in Poland ensured peace in the system of public finances on the formal side, but it meant future costs that were unavoidable and difficult to assess. (shrink)

Financing Public Schools moves beyond the basics of financing public elementary and secondary education to explore the historical, philosophical, and legal underpinnings of a viable public school system. Coverage includes the operational aspects of school finance, including issues regarding teacher salaries and pensions, budgeting for instructional programs, school transportation, and risk management. Diving deeper than other school finance books, the authors explore the political framework within which the schools must function, discuss the privatization of education and its (...) effects on public schools, offer perspectives regarding education as an investment in human capital, and expertly explain complex financial and economic issues. This comprehensive text provides the tools to apply the many and varied fiscal concepts and practices that are essential for aspiring public school administrators who aim to provide responsible stewardship for their students. (shrink)

Public parks play important roles in conserving biodiversity, promoting environmental sustainability, fostering community engagement, and enhancing the overall well-being of residents in urban areas. Nevertheless, finance is needed to maintain and expand the greenspaces in the parks. The current study aims to examine how perceptions of biodiversity loss consequences and park visitation frequency influence the residents’ willingness to contribute financially to tree-planting projects in public parks. Employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics on a dataset of 535 Vietnamese urban (...) residents, we discovered that perceived health loss and knowledge erosion as consequences of biodiversity loss and park visitation frequency are directly positively associated with financial donation willingness. Meanwhile, the perceived economic growth loss was found to be indirectly positively associated with donation willingness through park visitation frequency, whereas the perceived loss of nature-based recreation opportunities exhibits the opposite indirect association. Based on these results, communication strategies focusing on the multifaceted benefits of biodiversity preservation and investments in public parks are recommended to improve urban residents’ financial support to park panting initiatives, accessibility to greenspaces, and connections with nature. These are crucial for promoting an eco-surplus culture that enhances biodiversity conservation and human well-being. (shrink)

An investigation of public support for coastal adaptation options and public finance options in Florida evaluated stakeholder judgments and how they changed through a participatory engagement process. The study found that public finance mechanisms that imposed fiscal burdens on those who directly benefit from hazard reduction were rated as more acceptable than others. Significantly, visualisations and data on local economic damage and return on investment of potential adaptation options further increased acceptability ratings. The question of whether a (...) development fee for adaptation or any other public purpose supported by private funds is a legal issue that depends on a test called the rational nexus. One concern of this article is to explore options for such fees to cover adaptation to climate change. This raises issues about the potential conflict with the community-wide and intergenerational nature of long-term adaptation. We also explore the relevance of environmental attitudes using the 'new environmental paradigm' (NEP) scale and political party affiliation. Results have implications for infrastructure improvements that require public approval for financing. (shrink)

Buchanan highlighted the inconsistencies that arise when public services are financed by general taxation. Citizens increase their demand for services, even though citizens are reticent to increase taxation. Buchanan invited readers to explore the impact of different assumptions of politicians’ behaviour. In this chapter, attention focuses on the way that vote maximising governments are likely to respond to the divorce between receipt and payment for services. Buchanan illustrated his analysis with reference to the National Health Service in the UK. (...) Predictions are tested with reference to the pattern of excess demand in the National Health Service between 1970 and 2012. (shrink)

In recent years, the debate about the role of the Public Institutions in the fields of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development has gained momentum. Nevertheless, the ambiguity of the latter concepts makes it difficult both to measure them and to estimate the impact that the different public initiatives may have on them. In this sense, the present research has the aim to design a fuzzy logic-based methodology applied to the evaluation of the above-mentioned processes in relation to (...) the state-aid policies for the European industry. Regarding the study contour, the European Union state aids seems not to have introduced important changes leading to socially responsible results and, therefore, favourable for the sustainable development generated by the European manufacturing industry. (shrink)

Health care spending comprises about 16% of the total United States gross domestic product and continues to rise. This article examines patterns of health care spending and the factors underlying their proportional growth. We examine the “usual suspects” most frequently cited as drivers of health care costs and explain why these may not be as important as they seem. We suggest that the drive for technological advancement, coupled with the entrepreneurial nature of the health care industry, has produced inherently inequitable (...) and unsustainable health care expenditure and growth patterns. Successful health reform will need to address these factors and their consequences. (shrink)

Virtually all Americans are part of the health care system. They may be patients, health professionals, employers providing benefits, insurers, medical manufacturers, regulators, innovators, or investors. Each has a stake in this burgeoning sector of the United States economy, and each may be critically affected, in multiple and diverse ways, by changes to the system under health reform. As health care expenditures continue to rise, it is increasingly important to understand where these expenditures go and the factors that drive these (...) cost increases. This article examines health care expenditure patterns, considering both the “usual suspects” that frequently are cited as spending drivers, as well as certain significant dynamics that may be the main contributors to rising costs. We conclude that in order to successfully contain costs, health reform will need to address these underlying factors. (shrink)

The complexity and inefficiency of the U.S. health care system complicates the distribution of life-saving medical technologies. When the public health is at stake, however, there are alternatives. The proposal for a national PrEP program published in this issue of the Journal applies some of the lessons of the national COVID vaccine campaign to HIV prevention. In doing so, it draws on other examples of public health approaches to the financing of medical technology, from vaccines for children to (...) hepatitis C treatment. (shrink)

Finance is grease to the economy. Therefore, we assume that it may affect corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the sustainability of economic development too. This paper discusses the transmission mechanisms between finance and sustainability. We find that there is no simple one-to-one relationship between financial development and sustainable development but there are various – often indirect – linkages. It appears that most of the literature concentrates on the role of public shareholders when it comes to changing corporate policy and (...) performance in a more sustainable direction. However, this focus neglects the potential impact of the credit channel and private equity on a firm’s non-financial policies and performance. These very powerful mechanisms can govern business policies and practices. Therefore, there appears to be much more scope for finance to promote socially and environmentally desirable activities and to discourage detrimental activities than has been acknowledged in the academic literature so far. (shrink)

The "Ibercorp affair" was front-page news in Spain at various times between 1992 and 1995. In itself, there was nothing particularly new about it: a newly formed financial group engaged in legally and ethically reprehensible behaviour that eventually came to light in the media, ruining the company (and the careers of those involved). What aroused public interest at the time was the fact that it involved individuals connected with Spanish public and political life, the media and certain business (...) circles. Above all, it demonstrated the personal, economic, social and political consequences of a business culture based on the pursuit of easy profits at any price (what came to be known as the cultura del pelotazo or "culture of the fast buck"). Again, this is all too familiar in business ethics. But it served to goad Spanish society into a rejection of such behaviour. This article describes the facts and their ethical implications. (shrink)

Finance orthodoxy views finance capital as privately supplied, inherently scarce, and limited to assets accumulated by rentiers and held in financial institutions to be “intermediated” between virtuous savers and needful end users. But this “intermediated scarce private capital” orthodoxy is false and profoundly antagonistic to both democracy and productive investment. This article offers a more accurate portrayal that captures the critical role the public plays in generating and allocating its own full faith and credit in monetized form. The financial (...) system then looks like a franchise arrangement in which the public is franchiser and the institutions dispensing its full faith and credit are its franchisees. A post-capital-scarcity account of publicly underwritten finance explicitly recognizes both the propriety and the necessity of the public’s taking an active role in modulating and allocating its credit aggregates across the economy it constitutes. (shrink)

Academic integrity determines the trust that society has in the quality of education and the results of scientific research. More broadly, it influences honesty, respect for ethical principles, and the fair behaviour of society members. Accordingly, higher education institutions should have clear, transparent and well-communicated policies to defend academic integrity among all stakeholders. Taking into account the worldwide dependence on digital technologies, online communication channels should be also used for this purpose. Using qualitative content analysis, this paper aims to investigate (...) how academic integrity is framed by Latvian and Lithuanian state-financed universities in online public spaces in relation to the criteria of an exemplary academic integrity policy. Given the limited content of publicly available university documents, the research findings indicated a poor correspondence to the mentioned criteria. (shrink)

Our research has found that companies which have diverged from traditional management in order to adopt strategies which include ethics, cooperation and a joint vision of management obtain a greater added value. The new challenges of competitiveness require a position of active cooperation between firms and their suppliers, which should be considered as collaborators rather than adversaries. An active cooperation management may well allow the company to improve the quality of its products and its image, speed up delivery to its (...) clients and make its production and trading more agile, thus enhancing the perception the client has of the product. An improved ethical quality in our dealings, generating trust, improving communication and establishing long-term relationships with joint added value, results in higher competitiveness and greater creation of wealth. (shrink)