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Control of Social Spending, Russia
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As defined by the OECD and following the international practice, social spending includes all public costs incurred by paying benefits, providing goods and services, as well as tax deductions and discounts, made for social purposes. Among the beneficiaries of these payments and services may be low-income households or certain social groups, such as the retired, disabled, sick and temporarily disabled people, unemployed, and some others. Social spending is generated by such systems as pension plans, healthcare, education (the OECD statistics covers only early childhood education and care), labor market programs, housing, and family policies. This spending is aimed at redistributing resources across households or targets all the citizens and implies compulsory participation. Apart from the definition above, some Russian authors interpret public social spending broader and include funding of the ...