The Allocation of Federal Money in the United States: Aggregate Analysis by Correlation

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
There is a considerable literature in the social sciences reporting analyses of variations between governments (almost invariably local governments) in their spending on various service areas. Much less attention has been paid to the spatial pattern of spending within the territory of a single government, largely because of a paucity of data. It is possible to analyse allocations of money to the states by the American federal government, however, and the present paper outlines some results of exploratory investigations into the influences on the spatial pattern of this spending. Both economic and political variables have been used to account for patterns of inter-governmental spending. Economic variables cover the needs for different policies in different places, needs which vary because of spatial patterns of the target populations, and differences between places in the resources available to meet such needs. Political variables refer to the dispositions of different parties towards meeting certain perceived needs, and the abilities of representatives to obtain social and economic benefits for their constituents. As the analyses reported here are for aggregates – state populations – the measurement of needs is difficult and spatial variations in resources are of slight relevance only.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: