Socio-economic, political and social capital factors that influence the state expenditure: a comparison of rural communities in the Maldives

Abstract

The Maldives is a nation in the Indian Ocean that includes approximately 1200 coral islands in 21 clusters known as atolls. For administrative purposes, these atolls are grouped into seven provinces located geographically in the Central, Northern, and Southern areas. These island communities operate as groups, which explains to some extent the unequal allocation of resources among the rural communities and Central city, as many studies have supported. Therefore, to understand the unequal distribution of wealth in rural communities, it is very important to determine the factors associated with the provision of public funding as a whole. This study’s goal was to use multidimensional variables to estimate the factors that determine the provision of public funding, and economic, political, and social capital factors were combined to determine their relation to the Maldives’ total expenditures. More interestingly, after 2010, many rural areas have made huge improvements in their education level, healthcare services, and infrastructure development. The constitutional reform in 2008 that mandates multiparty democratic elections are suspected to be the root cause of these improvements. Ideally, citizen participation and engagement are intended to foster any state’s development. The Maldives government always has been criticized for its process of electing government officials, specifically influences on the part of candidates and other stakeholders, either by mutual benefits or malfeasance. However, it is clear that there is an expectation on both sides’ part. This basically indicates that public spending will be higher when it caters to the public’s demands. However, to what extent is this statement true in the case of rural development? Therefore, this study attempted to analyze the provision of public funding at both the island and provincial levels, and two models were developed to investigate these relations.