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1 – 10 of over 5000Elina De Simone, Mariangela Bonasia, Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta and Lorenzo Cicatiello
Making citizens able to monitor and evaluate public spending activities is a fundamental issue in public financial management literature. The purpose of this paper is to analyze…
Abstract
Purpose
Making citizens able to monitor and evaluate public spending activities is a fundamental issue in public financial management literature. The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether fiscal transparency, measured by the Open Budget Index, has an effect on public spending performance, measured by the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report data.
Design/methodology/approach
Research methods rely on random-effects panel regression models on a country-level panel data set of 82 world countries observed in the 2008–2015 time interval.
Findings
Results show that the potential positive effects of fiscal transparency are mediated by the level of democracy of the country. In detail, in democratic countries, a higher degree of disclosure of fiscal information is correlated with a higher efficiency of government spending while, in non-democratic countries, fiscal transparency does not seem to provide any effect.
Social implications
The results suggest that fiscal transparency can be a powerful device where politicians can be held accountable for their actions, while it could fail to provide positive results where a strong and effective vertical accountability is missing.
Originality/value
The novelty of the paper is twofold. First, it provides new additional evidence about the positive effect that fiscal transparency has on public spending efficiency by advancing previous research on this topic (Porumbescu, 2017; Montes et al., 2019). Second, the paper investigates conceptually and empirically how the positive effect on public spending efficiency determined by fiscal transparency depends on the degree of democracy present in the institutional environment in which fiscal information disclosure is implemented.
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Shujian Zhang and Li Wang
We are in an information age, and the relationship between government governance and market efficiency has become closer. When examining the behavior of governance, the study of…
Abstract
Purpose
We are in an information age, and the relationship between government governance and market efficiency has become closer. When examining the behavior of governance, the study of government transparency is very important. This paper examines the environmental governance performance of Guangdong province, the most developed coastal region in China.
Design/methodology/approach
DEA method is adopted to calculate the environmental governance efficiency by considering the expected output and the nonexpected output. Then Tobit regression was used to analyze the relationship between fiscal transparency and environmental governance efficiency.
Findings
Through a quantitative study of empirical data of Guangdong province from 2001 to 2017, it is found that fiscal transparency does have a significant positive impact on the efficiency of local environmental governance. Therefore, it is suggested that all regions in Guangdong should be more transparent in administration, intensify industrial transformation and upgrading, and better govern the regional ecological environment.
Originality/value
This paper examines the environmental governance performance of Guangdong province, the most developed coastal region in China. Guangdong has developed economy and people’s living standards are high, so the market and residents are particularly concerned about the government performance in environmental governance. Therefore, it is an important issue to explore the relationship between environmental governance and government transparency in Guangdong.
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Introduction: Interest and action concerning fiscal accountability have surged around the world in recent years, especially among Sub-Saharan African countries, because…
Abstract
Introduction: Interest and action concerning fiscal accountability have surged around the world in recent years, especially among Sub-Saharan African countries, because decision-making in the region has traditionally been shrouded in secrecy, with the general public having almost no access to knowledge on the management of public funds. Limited fiscal transparency has led to government fiscal crises where citizens have begun to call for better governance and participation in public funds.
Purpose: This study examines the impact of e-governance on the overall fiscal performance in SSA, while the specific objectives include the effect of e-governance on the central government’s primary balance and public external debt stock.
Methodology: The study employs annual data across 43 SSA countries to analyse the study from 2000 to 2018 using the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) method for estimating the models. Overall fiscal performance is generated through principal component analysis (PCA), which involves a linear combination of public external debt stock and central government primary balance.
Findings: The results reveal that there is clear evidence of the effectiveness of e-governance on the overall fiscal performance, even though this is not the same for the public external debt stock in SSA, despite the success recorded in the region’s ICT and telecommunication sectors in recent times. In addition, all other control variables impact fiscal performance except population growth.
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Jonathan B. Justice and Cumhur Dülger
Much of the current U.S. academic literature on participatory budgeting is preoccupied with direct citizen involvement in budget formulation, reflecting a particular normative…
Abstract
Much of the current U.S. academic literature on participatory budgeting is preoccupied with direct citizen involvement in budget formulation, reflecting a particular normative theory of democracy. In this essay we suggest that U.S. academics can learn from a contemporary international community of practice concerned with “civil-society budget work”-a quasi-grassroots, quasi-pluralist movement with member organizations throughout the developing world-as well as from the budget exhibits mounted by the New York Bureau of Municipal Research at the turn of the last century. The budget-work movement employs third-party intermediation and advocacy, through all phases of the budget cycle. U.S. academics and budget-work practitioners can learn from each other, and this represents an unexploited opportunity for all concerned. We propose a program of locally based action research and trans-local evaluative synthesis.
Joel B. Thornton and Elaine Thornton
This study aims to examine the content of, and the extent to which, the 50 state governments make online spending data available to citizens. Additionally, it seeks to analyze the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the content of, and the extent to which, the 50 state governments make online spending data available to citizens. Additionally, it seeks to analyze the typical access points available for searching financial transparency websites and to evaluate each for the presence of learning aids to assist average citizens in deciphering the data provided.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis of 50 state government financial transparency websites was conducted to determine access points available for searching and the presence of learning aids and explanatory materials to facilitate citizen understanding of government spending.
Findings
The study results revealed that, despite state government's efforts to provide increased access to financial information, little has been done to assist in improving citizens' skill in using the information and making it more understandable.
Practical implications
Librarians can play an integral role in assisting average citizens in navigating and understanding state government financial transparency websites.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates the importance of including learning aids on state government financial transparency websites and highlights the role that information professionals can play in assisting citizens with website navigation and data interpretation.
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The purpose of this paper is to research the impact of firms’ political connections on the stock price crash risk.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to research the impact of firms’ political connections on the stock price crash risk.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical methodology is used in this study.
Findings
Using a large sample of Chinese firms for the period 2008-2013, the authors find that corporate political connections can reduce the stock price crash risk. When managers are still in politics or firms are in high financial transparency of local governments, the relationship between political connections and the stock price crash risk is weakened. In addition, the authors’ research shows that the corporate political connections influence the stock price crash risk by affecting the speed of confirmation of bad news.
Research limitations/implications
The findings in this study suggest that political connections will affect corporate disclosure.
Practical implications
These results can help senior executives and investors make better decisions to prevent the stock price crash risk.
Originality/value
This paper empirically analyzes the impact of different types of political connections on the stock price crash risk for the first time.
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The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent of central government financial information disclosed in accordance with accrual-based International Public Sector Accounting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent of central government financial information disclosed in accordance with accrual-based International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and to investigate the environmental factors affecting this level, drawing on the contingency theory framework.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a self-constructed checklist of 116 items to measure the IPSAS disclosure level by 100 public sector entities from different countries across the globe during the period 2015–2017. Panel regressions have been used.
Findings
The results show significant differences in compliance levels with IPSAS disclosures across nations. They reveal a positive influence of the degree of government openness (political culture), quality of public administration and management and prior experience with International Accounting Standards (IAS)/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the public sector on this level, whereas government financial condition is a nonsignificant factor.
Practical implications
The research findings are potentially relevant to academics, researchers, practitioners, standard-setters and government policymakers. By examining the influencing factors of IPSAS disclosure level, this paper paves the way for further investigation of this topic with a more extensive set of micro and macroeconomic variables whether at the central or local government level in other jurisdictions
Originality/value
This study provides new insights into the assessment of the transparency and completeness of government accrual-based financial statements. Based on the contingency theory, this paper is the first to empirically investigate the factors affecting the level of disclosure under accrual-based IPSAS by central government entities in a cross-country analysis.
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Olumide Olusegun Olaoye, Ukafor Ukafor Okorie, Oluwatosin Odunayo Eluwole and Mahmood Butt Fawwad
This study examines the asymmetric effect of government spending on economic growth in Nigeria over the period 1980–2017. Specifically, this study investigates whether the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the asymmetric effect of government spending on economic growth in Nigeria over the period 1980–2017. Specifically, this study investigates whether the response of economic growth to government spending shocks differs according to the nature of shocks on them. In addition, the authors examine whether the stabilizing effects of fiscal policies are dependent on the state of the business cycle.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the linear fiscal reaction function in addition to the nonlinear regression model of Hatemi-J (2011, 2012), Granger and Yoon (2002), which allows us to separate negative shocks from positive shocks to government spending. Similarly, the authors adopt the generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques of Hansen (1982) to account for simultaneity and endogeneity problems inherent in dynamic model.
Findings
The authors’ findings reveal that there is evidence of asymmetry in the government spending–economic growth nexus in Nigeria over the period of study. Specifically, the authors find that the response of economic growth to government spending shocks differs according to the nature of shocks on them. More specifically, the study established that the stabilizing effects of fiscal policies are dependent on the state of the business cycle.
Originality/value
Unlike the traditional method of modeling asymmetry, which adopts the simple inclusion of a squared government spending term or by the inclusion of a cubic government spending term, the model adopted in this study allows us to model shocks and show how the responses of economic growth to government expenditure differ according to the nature of shocks on them.
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Olumide Olusegun Olaoye, Monica Orisadare, Ukafor Ukafor Okorie and Ezekiel Abanikanda
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of government expenditure on economic growth in 15 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries over the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of government expenditure on economic growth in 15 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries over the period of 2005–2017. More precisely, this paper investigates whether institutional environment influences the effect of government spending on economic growth.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts the generalized method of moments-system method of estimation to address the problem of dynamic endogeneity inherent in the relationship. Similarly, unlike previous studies which assume that the disturbances of a panel model are cross-sectionally independent, we account for cross-section dependency and cross-country heterogeneity inherent in empirical modeling using Driscoll and Kraay's nonparametric covariance matrix estimator, adjusted for use with both balanced and unbalanced panels along with Monte Carlo simulations.
Findings
The authors find that though, government spending has a positive impact on economic growth but the level of institutional quality adversely affect that positive impact. This suggests that the institutional environment in ECOWAS countries is a drag and not a push factor for government fiscal operations and/policies. Thus, the results provide empirical evidence that there is a conditional relationship between government spending and economic growth in African countries. That is, the effect of government spending on economic growth is dependent on the quality of institutions. Lastly, these findings suggest that in order for government spending to contribute to economic growth, African countries must develop a strong institutional environment.
Originality/value
Unlike previous time series studies for African countries which concentrated on the two variable case, we include institutional quality as a third variable to underline the potential importance of institutional quality for economic growth in ECOWAS countries.
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Olumide Olusegun Olaoye, Monica Orisadare and Ukafor Ukafor Okorie
The purpose of this paper is to examine the direction of causality between government expenditure and economic growth in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the direction of causality between government expenditure and economic growth in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the recently developed panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) by Love and Abrrigo (2015) and two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) in order to resolve the inherent problems of endogeneity and persistence in economic data.
Findings
The results from the study show no evidence of either unidirectional or bidirectional causal relationship between government expenditure and economic growth in ECOWAS member countries.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies that adopted cointegration technique, we adopt a system GMM through the application of a dynamic PVAR framework within the framework of panel data analysis in order to address the possibility of feedback effect in the causal relationship between government expenditure and economic growth. In addition the PVAR also allows us to model shocks across countries.
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