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Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies
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Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 24011

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Carmen Díaz-Roldán

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economics, University of Castilla La-Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Interests: : macroeconomics; international economics; public policies; fiscal policy; monetary policy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The last resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations (on 15 October 2019, https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/74/4) encourages governments and institutions to transform governance and public policies in order to ensure sustainable policymaking to promote sustainable development. The path to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires a multilateral effort where governments and public sector, in a broad sense, play an important role.

The way in which demand policies can be implemented to guarantee short-run stabilization without putting a brake on economic growth. Furthermore, the procedures that allow structural or supply-side policies to become growth-driven, crucially depend on the proper economic policy design and how policy measures are financed.

From the public policy point of view, the range of policy measures that favor sustainability, in a broad sense, is very wide. On one hand, sound monetary and fiscal policies could help to achieve output, price, and employment stabilization in the short run. On the other hand, to promote a sustainable future, several policy initiatives would need to guarantee the efficiency in resource allocation: environmental policies that preserve nature, innovative education policies to gain human capital, public policies favoring expenditure on research and development, and the education and training of workers using the advantages of new technologies.

Regarding finances, the sustainability of the financial system and those of public finances are crucial for investments and initiatives. To complete the range of policy actions, healthcare and labor market reforms, combined with the rationalization of the current system of retirement payments and unemployment subsidies, could play a key role to guarantee redistribution and social cohesion. To successfully solve sustainability challenges, the coordination of economic policies as well as an appropriate institutional framework are also necessary.

The main goal of this Special Issue is to encourage academics and researchers to share their proposals to design and implement Public Policies for Sustainability and to present novel contributions to the debate on the Sustainability of Public Policies.

The Special Issue will collect a set of contributions that provide a frame of reference to offer solutions for the main challenges of a sustainable future. This collection of different approaches, from the public policy point of view, is not only interesting for researchers, but also for society, organizations, institutions, and governments.

Dr. Carmen Díaz-Roldán
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Public policies
  • sustainability
  • monetary policy
  • fiscal policy
  • labor market
  • pensions
  • unemployment
  • health economics
  • education policies
  • environment
  • technological change
  • government

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 369 KiB  
Article
Fiscal Sustainability in Aging Societies: Evidence from Euro Area Countries
by María del Carmen Ramos-Herrera and Simón Sosvilla-Rivero
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10276; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410276 - 9 Dec 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2945
Abstract
Fiscal sustainability remains a paramount challenge in the Euro Area (EA) countries after the sharp rise in public debt-to-GDP ratios in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008. Using data from 11 EA countries over the period 1980–2019, we apply panel data [...] Read more.
Fiscal sustainability remains a paramount challenge in the Euro Area (EA) countries after the sharp rise in public debt-to-GDP ratios in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008. Using data from 11 EA countries over the period 1980–2019, we apply panel data techniques to examine the effects of population aging on fiscal sustainability, controlling for key macroeconomic variables. Our results suggest that the discretionary fiscal policy is strongly persistent, not being consistent with long-term fiscal solvency. Moreover, our results indicate that the fiscal stance is countercyclical for the countries under study and that population aging poses a major challenge for fiscal sustainability. The findings are robust to a different grouping of countries within the sample (core and peripheral countries, relatively old and young countries, and relatively more and less indebted countries). We consider that our results may have some practical meaning for national policymakers and international organizations responsible for regional and global fiscal surveillance and might shed some light on the possible effects that population aging could have on the effort of EA countries to restore public finances on a sustainable basis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies)
14 pages, 313 KiB  
Article
Fiscal Sustainability in the European Countries: A Panel ARDL Approach and a Dynamic Panel Threshold Model
by María del Carmen Ramos-Herrera and María A. Prats
Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8505; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208505 - 15 Oct 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3450
Abstract
We analyze the fiscal sustainability hypothesis for a panel of 20 European Union countries from 2000 to 2019. In particular, we employ new econometric methodologies that, to the best of our knowledge, are applied for the first time to the study of sovereign [...] Read more.
We analyze the fiscal sustainability hypothesis for a panel of 20 European Union countries from 2000 to 2019. In particular, we employ new econometric methodologies that, to the best of our knowledge, are applied for the first time to the study of sovereign fiscal policy sustainability in these economies. Specifically, we estimate the panel ARDL technique, distinguishing between short- and long-run coefficients because the order of integration of our variables is not the same. Moreover, a panel threshold model with endogeneity is considered to investigate whether, departing from a particular threshold, there is different behavior between the government primary balance and public debt, both taken as a ratio of potential GDP. Finally, the panel Granger causality test is implemented to determine the direction of causality or the existence of bidirectional causality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies)
25 pages, 319 KiB  
Article
Provision of Public Health Services and Sustainable Development: Evidence for 12 Emerging Countries
by Oscar Bajo-Rubio and Antonio G. Gómez-Plana
Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6546; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166546 - 13 Aug 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1804
Abstract
In this paper, we quantify the effects of an increase in the public provision of health services in a set of 12 emerging economies (i.e., Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Russia, South Africa and Tunisia), representing 45% of world [...] Read more.
In this paper, we quantify the effects of an increase in the public provision of health services in a set of 12 emerging economies (i.e., Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Russia, South Africa and Tunisia), representing 45% of world population in 2018. We use a computable general equilibrium model and simulate an increase in the real government expenditure devoted to public health services up to a 20% of total government expenditure, which is also assumed to raise labour productivity. This increase leads to expansionary effects in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and employment for all the economies under analysis and an increase in the ratio of government deficit to GDP, ranging between 3.66 points for Russia and 0.24 points for Colombia. If, in addition, direct tax rates on labour are increased to offset this result, the effects on GDP and employment become contractionary in most cases; whereas if indirect tax rates are those to be increased, small expansionary effects are again the norm with the only exception of Russia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies)
29 pages, 1602 KiB  
Article
Determinants of the Public Debt in the Eurozone and Its Sustainability Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic
by Hernán Ricardo Briceño and Javier Perote
Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6456; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166456 - 11 Aug 2020
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 8748
Abstract
Different economic studies have been concentrated on specific and/or isolated factors to explain public debt evolution. In this article we have developed an integrated viewpoint based on financial, social and governance or institutional factors. Under our dynamic econometric assessment for the last two [...] Read more.
Different economic studies have been concentrated on specific and/or isolated factors to explain public debt evolution. In this article we have developed an integrated viewpoint based on financial, social and governance or institutional factors. Under our dynamic econometric assessment for the last two decades (i.e., since the Euro currency inception), economic growth, interest rate, life expectancy at birth, unemployment, government effectiveness and the last sovereign debt crisis have resulted as being the major determinants of its evolution. Public debt sustainability must be assessed continuously with the aim to discuss technical recommendations to maintain it at an even rate, to allow sustainable economic growth and better life standards, in the context of life expectancy increasing and stable governance and institutional conditions. Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic leads more damaged Eurozone countries with negative real economic growth and high unemployment rates to increase dramatically their current public debts, to such an extent that they could fall into unsustainable paths. Therefore, substantial reforms in European pension and unemployment insurance systems are necessary conditions to ensure public debt sustainability amid Covid-19 pandemic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies)
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15 pages, 748 KiB  
Article
Do Countries with Similar Levels of Corruption Compete to Attract Foreign Investment? Evidence Using World Panel Data
by Luisa Alamá-Sabater, Teresa Fernández-Núñez, Miguel Ángel Márquez and Javier Salinas-Jimenez
Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 6194; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156194 - 31 Jul 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2358
Abstract
This paper examines whether foreign direct investment in one country helps to increase foreign investment in other countries with a similar degree of corruption. Our estimates are based on an unbalanced annual panel of 164 countries over the 2005–2015 period. Using spatial econometric [...] Read more.
This paper examines whether foreign direct investment in one country helps to increase foreign investment in other countries with a similar degree of corruption. Our estimates are based on an unbalanced annual panel of 164 countries over the 2005–2015 period. Using spatial econometric techniques, our main findings reveal that foreign investment in one recipient country is complementary to that in countries with similar levels of corruption. Furthermore, our results point to the existence of different circuits of foreign direct capital among countries that are determined by corruption similarity. These results suggest important policy implications for countries aiming to attract foreign investment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies)
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22 pages, 2090 KiB  
Article
Social Exclusion and Convergence in the EU: An Assessment of the Europe 2020 Strategy
by Juan Ángel Lafuente, Amparo Marco, Mercedes Monfort and Javier Ordóñez
Sustainability 2020, 12(5), 1843; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051843 - 29 Feb 2020
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 2946
Abstract
Economic convergence has long been a declared objective of the EU and considered the fundamental mechanism for achieving socioeconomic cohesion. The recent economic crisis had an uneven impact across EU countries and brought a halt to the process of economic and social convergence. [...] Read more.
Economic convergence has long been a declared objective of the EU and considered the fundamental mechanism for achieving socioeconomic cohesion. The recent economic crisis had an uneven impact across EU countries and brought a halt to the process of economic and social convergence. In response to this situation, the Europe 2020 strategy, launched in 2010, aimed to deliver social and territorial cohesion in the Member States. In this paper we evaluate the poverty and social exclusion pillar of the Europe 2020 strategy by analysing whether it has promoted convergence across the EU countries in the indicators devised to capture risk of poverty, severe material deprivation, and the number of persons living in households with very low work intensity. Our results for all three rates indicate that convergence occurs in heterogeneous clubs that do not follow a geographic east‒west or south‒north pattern. Convergence within each club, especially for the severe deprivation rate, takes place by means of a catching-up process, with Eastern European levels converging on the Western levels. Finally, not only is there club convergence, but there is no tendency for the clubs to convergence. Poverty and social cohesion indicators show a multi-speed Europe, casting doubt on the sustainability of the overall convergence process in the EU. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Policies for Sustainability and Sustainable Public Policies)
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