Problems and ways to improve the efficiency of budget expenditures in the social sphere

The problems of managing state and municipal expenditures in financing social sectors, the shortcomings in the implementation of state programs are shown, tools for improving the efficiency of budget expenditures are analyzed. Organizational and legal measures are proposed to eliminate the problems shown and specific measures are recommended to increase the efficiency of budget expenditures.

PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAM-TARGETED METHOD OF BUDGET EXPENDITURES IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The ongoing reform of public administration and the budgetary system has increasingly focused on improving budgetary efficiency. The best method to achieve this is a program-targeted method of planning and financing budget expenditures. While earlier planning in terms of the functions of local governments did not create incentives for optimal allocation of funds and focused only on the costs of maintaining the relevant bodies and subordinate institutions, the application of program-targeted planning requires a shift in the focus of budgetary expenditures towards results. Developed countries have begun to apply these planning methods since the middle of the last century, and to date there has been a wealth of experience that can be used in the practice of the Russian Federation, for which this method of planning expenditures is still quite new and causes a number of problems and difficulties in implementation. The article presents an overview study and systematization of the problems of implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness of the program-targeted method of planning state and municipal expenditures in the Russian Federation. The author identifies main difficulties faced by the budget system in 2018-2019, makes conclusions and recommendations for its improvement in the Russian Federation.

Municipal expenditures using own-source revenues and resilience of territorial inequalities in health

The objective of this study is to assess the importance of municipal expenses executed with own-source revenues for the maintenance of the territorial inequalities between resources allocated by Brazilian municipalities in the health sector, in spite of the redistributive effects attributed to the vertical transfers of the Brazilian National Health System. The formation of municipal own-source revenues is strongly impacted by regional economic inequalities, corresponding to almost 60% of the resources allocated by municipalities to health in recent years. Based on the Tree Edge Removal method, the total expenditures and those executed with own-source revenues by the municipalities were spatially distributed, thereby enabling identification of clusters from 2005 to 2015 in both cases. Central and dispersion measures were calculated for the two types of expenditure in this interval for the clusters. In the end, we found municipal expenditures with own-source revenues show levels of inequality which are significantly higher than those of the total municipal health expenditure, and even more significant is that these inequalities increase in time with higher intensity in the case of the former. Since municipalities are the main implementers of public health policy, results suggest higher levels of territorial equity will necessarily require adjustments in fiscal federalism in this sector.

INCREASING THE BUDGET POTENTIAL OF TERRITORIES BASED ON THE FORMATION OF DEVELOPMENT BUDGETS

The article notes that in the context of the current financial and economic crisis in Russia and the growing deficit of territorial budgets, it is necessary to fix the provision on the need to adopt regional and local devel-opment budgets aimed at forming a solid economic base for these budgets at the legislative level. In addition, it is suggested that the focus should not be on the budget deficit per se, but rather on state and municipal expenditures and their effective planning.

Urban structures, population density and municipal expenditures: An empirical study in the Czech Republic

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the type of urban spatial structure, population density and the selected types of capital and current municipal expenditures. Seven types of urban spatial structures at the level of city blocks are defined. Different types of municipal expenditure (urban green, pavement, roadway and public lighting) are estimated by the data from 22 Czech cities and six city districts. The capital and current municipal expenditures are calculated for each urban structure per hectare and per capita. The most expensive urban structure per hectare is the urban structure of estates and high rises, which is caused by the large proportion of public space. On the other hand, single detached houses are the least costly. If the population density is taken into account and municipal expenditures are calculated per capita, the least costly urban structure is the urban block structure followed by the organic urban structure (historical centre), which is given by high population density and lower size of public space. The urban structure of single detached houses is the most costly urban structure per capita.