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Achieving France’s medium-term fiscal targets will require significant expenditure efforts. This paper identifies areas where there is scope for increasing expenditure efficiency, with a view to achieving higher quality and more sustainable fiscal consolidation. The methodology is based on a triple benchmarking. First, the level of public expenditure in different categories is compared to other European countries. Second, the impact of spending is assessed against other European countries. Third, the input mix is analyzed to understand what components are responsible for the level of spending and for the quality of outcomes This is done for various categories of spending and policies. Based on these results, the paper then provides policy options for expenditure reform in each of these areas, drawing on successful reform episodes in other countries.

Fiscal policy --- Labor --- Public Finance --- Fiscal Policy --- State and Local Budget and Expenditures --- State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare --- State and Local Government: Other Expenditure Categories --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- National Government Expenditures and Health --- Health: General --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General --- Public finance & taxation --- Health economics --- Labour --- income economics --- Expenditure --- Health care spending --- Health --- Total expenditures --- Wages --- Expenditures, Public --- France --- Income economics

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Spain is experiencing sustained economic and social disparities in several areas. Social spending policies have a heightened responsibility to respond but are challenged by high public debt and pressures from an aging society. This study takes stock of the level and effectiveness of public social expenditure from a cross-country and macroeconomic view, complementing recent targeted spending reviews. The results suggest that social protection spending should aim to improve redistribution through better targeting the most vulnerable while more effective education and active labor market policies should aim to create more equal opportunities and income prospects. In some areas more fiscal resources are needed. But social spending alone cannot reduce inequality, and efforts also should be directed toward making the labor market more inclusive.

Spain --- Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Public Finance --- Fiscal Policy --- State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare --- Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility --- Promotion --- Unemployment Insurance --- Severance Pay --- Plant Closings --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Labor Economics Policies --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Social Security and Public Pensions --- National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs --- Public finance & taxation --- Labour --- income economics --- Pensions --- Income --- Active labor market policies --- Expenditure --- Pension spending --- Social protection spending --- National accounts --- Expenditures, Public --- Manpower policy --- Income economics

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We construct a comprehensive public sector balance sheet for Finland from 2000 to 2016 by complementing general government statistics with data on public corporations and public pensions. We show that exposure to valuation changes in equity markets through asset holdings and increases in pension liabilities relative to GDP amplify crisis impacts on public finances. We expand the balance sheet by including present value estimates of future fiscal flows; this allows us to perform fiscal stress tests and policy experiments. These analyses suggest that Finland’s public finances will remain sound provided ongoing reform and consolidation efforts to address aging pressures are implemented as planned.

Accounting --- Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Public Finance --- Public Economics: General --- Social Security and Public Pensions --- National Budget, Deficit, and Debt: General --- Debt --- Debt Management --- Sovereign Debt --- Forecasts of Budgets, Deficits, and Debt --- State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare --- Governmental Loans, Loan Guarantees, Credits, and Grants --- Public Administration --- Public Sector Accounting and Audits --- Public Enterprises --- Public-Private Enterprises --- Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits --- Private Pensions --- Fiscal Policy --- Financial reporting, financial statements --- Pensions --- Civil service & public sector --- Financial statements --- Public sector --- Pension spending --- Fiscal stance --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Expenditure --- Economic sectors --- Fiscal policy --- Finance, Public --- Finland

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Does fiscal decentralization improve health and educational outcomes? Does this improvement depend on the quality of governance? How do fiscal decentralization and governance interact? We answer these questions through an instrumental variable Tobit analysis of cross-country panel data. We find negative effects of fiscal decentralization on health outcomes, which however are more than offset by better governance. Education expenditure decentralization to subnational governments enhances educational outcomes. We conclude that countries can only reap the benefits from decentralization when the quality of their governance arrangements exceeds a certain threshold. We also find that sequencing and staging of decentralization matter. Countries should improve government effectiveness and control of corruption first to maximize benefits of fiscal decentralization.

212 Federalisme --- 439 Fiscaal recht --- Macroeconomics --- Economics: General --- Public Finance --- Criminology --- Bureaucracy --- Administrative Processes in Public Organizations --- Corruption --- State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare --- Intergovernmental Relations --- Federalism --- Secession --- Health: Government Policy --- Regulation --- Public Health --- Finance in Urban and Rural Economies --- Health: General --- Fiscal Policy --- National Government Expenditures and Health --- Education: General --- Economic & financial crises & disasters --- Economics of specific sectors --- Health economics --- Public finance & taxation --- Education --- Corporate crime --- white-collar crime --- Health --- Fiscal federalism --- Fiscal policy --- Health care spending --- Expenditure --- Crime --- Currency crises --- Informal sector --- Economics --- Expenditures, Public --- Colombia

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Electoral rules determine how voters' preferences are aggregated and translated into political representation, and their design can lead to the election of representatives who represent broader or narrower constituencies. Relying on a regression discontinuity design, I contrast single- and two-round elections in Brazilian municipal races. Two-round elections use two rounds of voting to elect a winner, ensuring that the eventual winner obtains at least 50% of the vote. Theoretically, this can provide incentives for candidates to secure a broader base of support. Consistent with this, I show that in two-round elections, candidates represent a more geographically diverse group of voters, public schools have more resources, and there is less variation in resources across public schools. Effects appear to be driven by strategic responses of candidates, rather than differential entry into races. These results suggest that two-round elections can lead candidates to secure broader bases of support and to distribute public goods more broadly.

Brazil --- Macroeconomics --- Economics: General --- Infrastructure --- Demography --- Budgeting --- Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior --- Positive Analysis of Policy-Making and Implementation --- State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare --- Investment --- Capital --- Intangible Capital --- Capacity --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Education: General --- Demographic Economics: General --- National Budget --- Budget Systems --- Economic & financial crises & disasters --- Economics of specific sectors --- Education --- Population & demography --- Budgeting & financial management --- National accounts --- Income --- Population and demographics --- Budget planning and preparation --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Currency crises --- Informal sector --- Economics --- Saving and investment --- Population --- Budget