Public Management and Administration - Owen E.hughes

92 Public Management and Administration
TABLE 4.1 General government total outlays as percentage of GDP
1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000
Australia 31.4 35.4 33.4 36.4 34.9 32.6
USA 31.4 33.1 32.9 34.8 32.4 29.9
Germany 47.9 46.1 44.9 45.0 47.3 43.3
UK 43.0 45.1 38.1 43.0 40.7 37.0
Japan 32.0 32.3 29.4 31.0 34.9 36.6
OECD 36.5 38.9 36.7 39.5 39.0 36.6
Source: OECD Economic Outlook, 61 (1997), p. A31, and 70 (2001), p. 230.
TABLE 4.2 Government spending – selected OECD countries
Current Current Expenditure Transfers
disbursements receipts on goods and
services
1994 1998 1994 1998 1994 1998 1994 1998
Australia 36.2 32.0 34.2 33.3 17.5 18.2 18.7 13.8
Canada 46.7 42.4 42.4 43.4 20.2 20.0 24.5 22.4
France 50.9 48.6 46.4 47.4 19.6 23.6 31.3 25.3
Germany 46.1 44.8 46.4 43.8 17.7 19.0 28.4 25.8
Italy 51.0 45.7 45.0 44.7 17.1 18.1 33.9 27.6
Japan 27.0 30.0 32.2 31.6 9.8 10.1 17.2 19.9
Sweden 66.4 56.7 57.4 58.1 27.3 26.1 39.1 30.6
United Kingdom 42.3 45.8 37.3 46.5 16.4 18.2 25.9 27.3
United States 35.8 33.9 31.7 32.4 16.4 15.2 19.4 18.7
Source: OECD, Economic Surveys, Germany (Paris: OECD, 2001).
much less. Table 4.2 shows there is a marked variation in spending levels
between different countries in the OECD.
The first column in Table 4.2 – current disbursements – sets out current
budget sector (general government) outlays. Of the countries shown here, the
lowest is Japan with 27.0 per cent of GDP in outlays in 1994, compared to
Sweden with 66.4 per cent. The column setting out current receipts provides a
comparison of taxation levels, ranging from the United States at 31.7 per cent
to Sweden with 57.4 per cent of GDP. The third column, expenditure on goods
and services, is how much the government consumes, that is, actually spends
itself rather than passing money to someone else to finally spend. Except for
the extremes of Japan and Sweden, government expenditure on goods and
services varies less between countries than the other figures. The main reason
for the marked differences in total outlays is the wide variation in the amount
of transfers.