Revenues and expenditures of African governments : modalities and consequences

It does so with the goal of trying to cite the activities of these governments in the wider context of African economic performance as a whole. Like governments anywhere, African governments raise revenues, employ workers, and make expenditures. The structure of African economies gives special characteristics to each of these activities. In particular, there are important interdependencies between revenues, employment, and expenditures beyond the fact that expenditures have to be funded and require employees for implementation. Among issues considered are the dependence of government revenues on export prices; the insignificance of the personal income tax; the level of government wages relative to economic opportunities in the private sector; the role of education in altering the supply of government workers and their wages; and the effect of government expenditures on government revenues along with the timing of these effects. (Author abstract)