Political economy drives public policy in State, says official

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Public Spending and its Effectiveness: Selected Studies from Karnataka’ organised by the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS), he said it is political economy which decides where to spend and how much to spend the tax-payers’ money. Though these decisions appear good from a distance, an in-depth study will reveal that it is actually the other way round. He, however, added that these are his personal views. 

Public expenditure in the State is about 20 per cent, which is the highest in the country. Nearly 10 per cent of this is being generated through various taxes. But judicious spending of this money is more important than the total amount that is being spent, he pointed out.

Of the total public expenditure, 10.6 per cent is being spent towards four key sectors of health, drinking water supply, education and infrastructure development. Allocation of funds to health and education has almost remained flat in the last one decade, while it has significantly increased for drinking water and infrastructure development, he said and added that there is a need to introspect on why public spending on health and education sectors has been declining.