The Use of Public Expenditure in the Advancement of National Economy: A Comparative Study of the United Kingdom and Nigeria

The study investigates the use of public expenditure in the advancement of the national economy comparatively for the United Kingdom and Nigeria during the period 2000-2020. The hypotheses were linearly modeled while adopting the ordinary least square method of estimation and the granger causality test. The findings support Keynes' (1936) notion of the government intervening actively in the economy through a variety of policy instruments by revealing a positive and significant relationship between government spending and economic growth in the two countries being sampled. The Granger causality test shows that Wagner's law, which states that there is a causal relationship between economic growth and government spending, does not hold for Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The study concludes that government expenditure has been better utilized for the advancement of the national economy in the United Kingdom than in Nigeria. Given the positive and significant impact of government expenditure on Economic growth, the study thus recommends that Nigeria needs to improve its expenditure management by providing a sound macroeconomic environment.