The incidence of social spending in ghana
Demery, Lionel | Chao, Shiyan | Bernier, Rene | Mehra, Kalpana
The study investigates the implication of economic recovery in Ghana, and how it relates to the incidence of social spending, reviewing how the poor benefit from education and health spending. As of the 1980s, the country improved its economic performance through the Economic Recovery Program, with significant increases in health and education. Estimates on benefit incidences in these two sectors, were obtained from the Ghana Living Standards Surveys, and although it reflects combined gains among the poorest population, the incidence has remained largely unchanged since 1989. The report further reviews significant differences within each sector, finding that the poor gained relatively more from primary education spending, than from secondary and tertiary spending. It spells out that this larger share in primary spending, was mainly due to demographics, since the greater proportion of children of primary school age, are among the poorest, specifying marked gender inequalities in public education spending. Nonetheless, in the health sector, the poorest population gained the most from hospital outpatient healthcare, compared to other health benefits. The study concludes that household expenses on these sectors, are not consistent with official data, thus, inconsistencies should be investigated, and suggests improvements on management spending, and further allocation of resources in the health sector.
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