Impact ofExpanding Economic Activities onGovernment Expenditure inNigeria

The main focus of this study is to investigate the impact of expansion in economic growth on government expenditure in Nigeria covering the periods 1970 to 2012. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was used as a proxy for economic growth, and the GDP time series was decomposed using the partial sum approach in order to achieve asymmetry in the variable. The asymmetric ARDL estimation technique was appropriately employed in this study. The findings of this study revealed that expansion in economic growth has significant impact on government expenditure in Nigeria. The study further provided evidence of long-run causality from boom/expansion in economic growth to government expenditure in Nigeria but could not support any evidence of short-run causality. The researcher recommended among others, that Governments in Nigeria should give more impetus to policies that will guarantee sustainable economic growth. Keywords:Economic growth, Government expenditure, Asymmetric ARDL, Long-run Causality, and Short-run Causality.