Mads spoke for the Danish model, with its far higher taxes and rates of social spending.
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The result could be an unintended rise in defence spending relative to social spending.
Mr Chidambaram has done the trick by increasing social spending and subsidies for food and fertilisers.
The government claims to have squirrelled away enough to maintain social spending and pay public-sector wages.
He seems to see ring-fencing social spending as a way to cement his legacy.
Mr Lagos stands broadly for economic continuity (though with more social spending), but backs constitutional reform.
All this tax-trimming and social spending raise the prospects of a Brazilian fiscal cliff.
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The downturn in the economy reduced tax revenues, and forced government leaders to curtail vital social spending.
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His policy is to increase social spending and implement a review of the security forces and judiciary.
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He says he wants Costa Rica to follow the Netherlands, combining economic efficiency and high social spending.
And down we spiral as greater social spending begets greater social ills requiring still greater levels of spending.
The government does want to direct its social spending better, says Mr Aninat, and to extend private-sector involvement.
Rather than focus on social spending, he paid off International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and produced budget surpluses.
Such revenue has been used in the past to fund social spending and significant pay hikes for public-sector workers.
In NRW local social spending rose by 274% between 1980 and 2006, whereas revenue went up only by 104%.
Mr Correa benefits from the opposition's discredit and high oil prices, which have allowed him to increase social spending.
More social spending of the right kind would not crowd out private consumption.
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With the financial heart shot out of the economy, tax revenues have fallen dramatically just as social spending has increased.
Liability costs are also lower in Canada, which has the same level of social spending as the U.S., study authors said.
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Mr Lafontaine has been the Social Democrats' chief opponent of business-friendly tax reform and its chief defender of lavish social spending.
So Mr Batlle will be hard-pressed to fulfil pledges to boost social spending while keeping the government's budget deficit under control.
Since interest payments now absorb about one-third of the national budget, this should eventually liberate lots of money to increase social spending.
Second, governments around Latin America have reinforced the narrowing of wage gaps with social spending targeted at people with the lowest incomes.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, in 1979 over half of all federal social spending went to the poorest fifth of households.
Mr Cardoso shifted social spending towards the poor, in two main ways.
And although the extra wealth might be used for personal consumption, it could also, if Canadians preferred, be used to increase social spending.
As long as economic conditions remain supportive, the incoming government will have ample resources to devote to social spending without jeopardising debt servicing.
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Free education and healthcare would still be guaranteed, but mass subsidies of basic goods would be removed and social spending would be "rationalised".
As Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank's chief economist for Africa, points out, growth does not just make more money available for social spending.
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