Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments? Another Look

Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments? Another Look
Author: John E. Garen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2001
Genre:
ISBN:

In the Journal of Political Economy, Rodrik (1998) finds a positive association between the openness of an economy and its government size. He explains this paradox by arguing that government expenditures are used to provide social insurance against the risk of terms of trade shocks that open economies face. This paper examines the relationship of other measures of the size of government to openness of an economy and to risk of terms of trade shocks. We present evidence that less open economies are highly interventionist and their governments "large" based on different measures of government than those used by Rodrik. In particular, we find that less open economies tend to have a great deal more government in the form of more government ownership, more use of price controls, a higher likelihood of expropriation of property and repudiation of contracts, and more trade barriers. We also find higher levels of these forms of government in countries with greater exposure to trade shocks. The inter-relationships uncovered by Rodrik (1998), various authors in the literature, and in this paper are still not completely understood. It is clear, though, that focus on budgetary measures of government misses much of the picture regarding the role of government and its relationship to international trade.

Globalization, Redistribution, and the Size of Government

Globalization, Redistribution, and the Size of Government
Author: Raphael A. Espinoza
Publisher:
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2019
Genre: Globalization
ISBN:

This paper investigates how trade and financial globalization affect government decisions to redistribute via spending and taxation, using a large panel covering around 100 democratic countries over the period 1970-2015. We use a time-varying external instrument in regressions with fixed and time effects in order to overcome endogeneity concerns that have plagued the earlier literature. Our findings support the view that more open economies have bigger governments. The paper also examines the impact of globalization on different types of social spending and taxes. We find that trade openness increases the tax burden on labor income and reduces the tax burden on capital income and that financial openness reduces corporate income tax rates. In addition, exposure to trade pushes governments to spend more on labor programs and family benefits. Finally, the paper does not find that political institutions affect the sensitivity of public spending to globalization.

How Big (Small?) are Fiscal Multipliers?

How Big (Small?) are Fiscal Multipliers?
Author: Ethan Ilzetzki
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2011-03-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1455218022

We contribute to the intense debate on the real effects of fiscal stimuli by showing that the impact of government expenditure shocks depends crucially on key country characteristics, such as the level of development, exchange rate regime, openness to trade, and public indebtedness. Based on a novel quarterly dataset of government expenditure in 44 countries, we find that (i) the output effect of an increase in government consumption is larger in industrial than in developing countries, (ii) the fisscal multiplier is relatively large in economies operating under predetermined exchange rate but zero in economies operating under flexible exchange rates; (iii) fiscal multipliers in open economies are lower than in closed economies and (iv) fiscal multipliers in high-debt countries are also zero.

News Shocks in Open Economies

News Shocks in Open Economies
Author: Mr.Rabah Arezki
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 54
Release: 2015-09-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513590766

This paper explores the effect of news shocks on the current account and other macroeconomic variables using worldwide giant oil discoveries as a directly observable measure of news shocks about future output ? the delay between a discovery and production is on average 4 to 6 years. We first present a two-sector small open economy model in order to predict the responses of macroeconomic aggregates to news of an oil discovery. We then estimate the effects of giant oil discoveries on a large panel of countries. Our empirical estimates are consistent with the predictions of the model. After an oil discovery, the current account and saving rate decline for the first 5 years and then rise sharply during the ensuing years. Investment rises robustly soon after the news arrives, while GDP does not increase until after 5 years. Employment rates fall slightly for a sustained period of time.

Doing Business 2020

Doing Business 2020
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-11-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464814414

Seventeen in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2020 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity.

Global Trends 2040

Global Trends 2040
Author: National Intelligence Council
Publisher: Cosimo Reports
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2021-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781646794973

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Challenges to Globalization

Challenges to Globalization
Author: Robert E. Baldwin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2007-11-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226036553

People passionately disagree about the nature of the globalization process. The failure of both the 1999 and 2003 World Trade Organization's (WTO) ministerial conferences in Seattle and Cancun, respectively, have highlighted the tensions among official, international organizations like the WTO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, nongovernmental and private sector organizations, and some developing country governments. These tensions are commonly attributed to longstanding disagreements over such issues as labor rights, environmental standards, and tariff-cutting rules. In addition, developing countries are increasingly resentful of the burdens of adjustment placed on them that they argue are not matched by commensurate commitments from developed countries. Challenges to Globalization evaluates the arguments of pro-globalists and anti-globalists regarding issues such as globalization's relationship to democracy, its impact on the environment and on labor markets including the brain drain, sweat shop labor, wage levels, and changes in production processes, and the associated expansion of trade and its effects on prices. Baldwin, Winters, and the contributors to this volume look at multinational firms, foreign investment, and mergers and acquisitions and present surprising findings that often run counter to the claim that multinational firms primarily seek countries with low wage labor. The book closes with papers on financial opening and on the relationship between international economic policies and national economic growth rates.