The Impact of Public Spending on the Human Development Index in the OECD Countries

• Main Authors: Chung-Kang Liu, 劉仲康
• Other Authors: 蘇彩足
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/58588123794972750637

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 政治學研究所 === 102 === Recent literature has indicated the important interrelations between human development and economic development. Because of the two-way relationship, some studies have made the policy implication that human development and economic development both have to be promoted at the same time, rather than one prioritizing before the other, in order to sustain the development of the two. The purpose of this study is to look into the impact of public spending on human development in all 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. This study covers eight years, from 2005 to 2012. In our study, we use the Human Development Index (HDI) and its indicators, developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to indicate the level of human development. The HDI is composite index evaluating people’s well-being by health, education, and standard of living. Our conclusions are made according to the empirical test results. First, for the health dimension, we find that public spending on health and on social security has a significant positive impact. Second, we find that public spending on education, social security, and health all have a significant positive impact on expected years of schooling. However, although public spending on health and on social security both have a significant impact on mean years of schooling, we find the impact of education spending to be statistically insignificant. In addition, for the standard of living dimension, our results show that public spending may help boost the economy during economic downturns. And finally, we find public spending to have a positive impact on the HDI, from which we draw the conclusion that for the OECD countries, public spending plays a crucial role in promoting human development.