Public Spending Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Public Spending - Essay Example The public expenditure was raised in the 20th century due to the impact of the world wars. Before the World War I, the public expenditure was about 15% of the GDP. After the war it appeared to be about 25% of the GDP and maintained the level in the next few years. It did change during the starting phase of depression in the economic conditions (Chantrill, 2010). After the World War II, the public expenditure had increased and it was budgeted to consume 35% of the GDP and this level was retained till 1950s. The public expenditure was slowly raised in the year 1960 and it increased in early 1980s consuming about 45% of the GDP (Chantrill, 2010). Public expenditure rose by 0.7 percent of the GDP from 1999-2008. A decade ago, according to the OECD statistics, UK public spending was registered at 8.7 percent of the GDP below the Euro area average. By 2008, this figure had been registered at 1.3 percent below the Euro area average (IOD, 2008). There were lot of instability in the public expending regarding the defence system. The spending in defence expense was increased before the World War II. 3.5% of the GDP was used in defence spending in the year 1935 and reached to 15.9% in 1939. After the commencement of the World War II, the British Government started to assemble most of its resources for the war. The expenditure was over 40% of the GDP on the defence system for four years and it was raised to 46.37% of GDP in 1943 (Chantrill, 2010). The public expenditure in development of the state of education was expanded from 2% of GDP in 1990 to 6% of GDP in the second decade of 21st century. The spending in this sector has been increased to 3.37% of GDP in 1955. During the starting phase of 1956 the spending was increased rapidly and it accounted to 4% of GDP in 1960 and 6.5% of GDP in 1975 (Chantrill, 2010). There has been a decrease in the spending during the period of 1970 to 1980. In 1989 it reached to 4.25%