School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses

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    Public accountability and public spending on human development: regimes, institutions, and resources
    Afzal, Kamran Ali ( 2011)
    A large body of scholarly research provides convincing evidence on the linkages between human development and economic growth, poverty alleviation, distributive justice, and, at an even more important level, the expansion of human choices and capabilities, and the broader welfare and wellbeing of individuals as human beings. There is also credible evidence suggesting that public spending on education and health improves human development outcomes. What is much less well understood, however, is why some states choose to spend more on providing education and healthcare to their citizens, while many others keep pushing resources towards their militaries. Based on a revised conception of public accountability that encompasses political regimes, administrative and judicial institutions, and modes of resource mobilisation, I argue, within an overall paradigm of New Political Institutionalism, that it is the nature and strength of public accountability that makes governments responsive to citizens’ wellbeing, and thereby best explains cross-country differences in the level of public spending on education and health as well as the outcomes of this spending. Combining cross-sectional regression analysis with three historical comparative country case studies, I find — against the backdrop of the many potential determinants of public spending identified in the literature — extensive support for my argument. In particular, I find persuasive evidence indicating that democracy and high-quality institutions promote public spending on education and health, while democracy and dependence on taxation tend to reduce military spending. I also find human development outcomes to be strongly associated with democracy and high-quality institutions. My findings have some very significant implications for institutional design and the way we approach the question of human development, particularly in the less developed states.