Abstract

This study re-examines the Wagner's law of public expenditure for six sub-Saharan African countries while relaxing the assumption of a symmetric adjustment process underlying standard cointegration tests and error-correction models. The empirical methodology uses threshold cointegration tests to establish that there is a long-run relationship between government expenditure and per capita GDP for five countries, with income being positively related to public spending. Furthermore, the results of asymmetric Granger-causality tests provide support for Wagner’s law in the long run for five countries (Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal), while the Keynesian view holds only in the short run for three countries (Benin, Cameroon, and Cote d’Ivoire). The short run evidence for two countries (Kenya and Senegal) support both Wagner’s law and Keynesian view.

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