WHEN IS PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PRO-POOR?
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TABLE 3. Poverty Reduction Impact of Expenditures, by Country, Average 1977–2005
Country
Aggregate expenditures
Slovenia 1.2886 Czech Republic 0.8960 Hungary 0.8399 Slovak Republic 0.7972 Uruguay 0.7969 Croatia 0.7616 Poland 0.6355 Panama 0.5869 Brazil 0.5811 Bulgaria 0.5425 Chile 0.5249 Belarus 0.5200 Jordan 0.4867 Namibia 0.4798 Malaysia 0.4687 Tunisia 0.4500 Iran, Islamic Rep. of 0.4090 Estonia 0.4076 Colombia 0.3715 Latvia 0.3558 Argentina 0.3542 Trinidad and Tobago 0.3532 Turkey 0.3286 Morocco 0.3109 Romania 0.3091 Costa Rica 0.2801 Algeria 0.2679 Dominican Republic 0.2396 Venezuela, R.B. de 0.2373 Lithuania 0.2021 Paraguay 0.1861 Albania 0.1735 Bolivia 0.1709 Yemen, Republic of ⫺0.0004 Peru 0.1661 Kazakhstan 0.1541
Disaggregated expenditures 1.7656 0.6049 0.7725 0.4698 1.4173 0.6486 0.6160 0.0931 0.8151 0.3288 0.4398 0.4417
0.2694 0.1097 0.2105 0.0929 0.0522 0.5404 ⫺0.0614 ⫺0.0134 0.0566 0.0057 0.0114 0.1337 ⫺0.1187 ⫺0.2044 ⫺0.2490 ⫺0.1381
⫺0.2005
Country Georgia Guatemala Thailand Honduras Ukraine Philippines Moldova Botswana Vietnam Côte d’Ivoire Lesotho Azerbaijan Haiti Cameroon Bangladesh Sri Lanka Egypt, Arab Rep. of Kenya Indonesia Nepal India Sierra Leone Mongolia Burkina Faso Ghana Pakistan Madagascar Gambia, The Rwanda Nicaragua Nigeria Mali Swaziland Uganda Burundi Zambia
Aggregate expenditures 0.1099 0.0465 0.0455 0.0401 ⫺0.0386 ⫺0.0554 ⫺0.0665 ⫺0.0778 ⫺0.1050 ⫺0.1128 ⫺0.1148 ⫺0.1216 ⫺0.1391 ⫺0.1411 ⫺0.1452 ⫺0.1458 ⫺0.1507 ⫺0.1551 ⫺0.1796 ⫺0.1819 ⫺0.2115 ⫺0.2259 ⫺0.2316 ⫺0.2744 ⫺0.3058 ⫺0.3404 ⫺0.3545 ⫺0.3715 ⫺0.3777 ⫺0.3883 ⫺0.4221 ⫺0.4445 ⫺0.5302 ⫺0.5649 ⫺0.6152 ⫺0.8489
Disaggregated expenditures ⫺0.0276 ⫺0.0626 ⫺0.9320 ⫺0.9410
⫺0.5922 ⫺0.2316
⫺0.9879 ⫺0.4199 ⫺0.4030
⫺0.9227
0.7553
⫺0.5844
⫺1.1004
Source: Author’s calculations.
poverty by a whopping 129 log points. In contrast, in almost half of the sample we find that government expenditures do not contribute to poverty reduction.4 Although the most pro-poor countries tend to be in Eastern Europe, while the less pro-poor tend to be in Africa, there are some notable exceptions. Uruguay, Panama, and Brazil are among the 10 countries with most pro-poor fiscal policies, while