Public Finance in Developing Countries

Abstract

The goals or objectives of public finance in developing countries are those of economic policy as a whole: economic growth, internal and external stability, and the attainment of an appropriate distribution of income and wealth. Taxation and expenditure are by no means the only or the most important means of achieving such national objectives. Nevertheless, since the budget is one of the most pervasive instruments of government policy in any economy, the effects of budgetary policy on such general public policy objectives as growth, stability and distribution must be taken explicitly into account in formulating tax and expenditure policy.