The Impact of Government Revenue on the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Amplification Potential of Good Governance

The United Nations General Assembly established the Sustainable

Development Goals in 2015 to achieve an equitable and sustainable future for

all by 2030. This study aims to model the relationship between government

revenue per capita, quality of governance and the targets of several of these

goals, including the coverage of the critical determinants of health; water,

sanitation, healthcare, and education. We used government revenue because

the policies and practices of international and multinational organisations –

including corporations and banks – are more likely to influence revenue rather

than government spending in countries in which they are engaged. Also,

government revenue reflects a government’s ability to spend across all sectors

rather than just health or education. An unbalanced non-linear panel data

model was employed, and annual data on 217 countries over the period 1960–

2000 was used. The coverage of the Sustainable Development Goal variables

was expressed as percentages and measures of the quality of governance included

in the model. A linear relationship between revenue and the determinants of

health would not be appropriate; therefore, we employ a logistic function. A

standard panel logistic function would impose the same shape “S” curve on

all countries, which is inappropriate. Therefore, we augment the parameters

of the logistic function with measures of the quality of governance in each

country, which allows each country to have a different “S” shape as the quality

of its governance varies. Our study found that increased government revenue is

associated with increased progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

An improvement in the quality of governance could amplify this effect. This

modelling and its accompanying visualisations can predict the potential of an

increase in government revenue in an individual country regarding progress

towards the Sustainable Development Goals.