Positive Externalities, and Economy to the Treasury

Pro-activities of the Social Observatory in Maringá

Abstract

In economics, positive externalities express benefits generated to people who do not participate in the original action of the activity or work that generated them. The mission of the Social Observatories is to carry out social control activities related to the use of the public fund. But how to evaluate if the economic impact generated by the Social Observatory's work provided the economy to the Treasury? This research analyzed the work developed by the Social Observatory in Maringá (SOM) over a ten-year period starting in 2007, to better understand the economic contribution its activities provided to the local society. Through collected data, sought to describe and explain the qualitative attributes of the work carried out and to quantify the significance of the monitoring of municipal public expenditures in the various modalities of purchases and acquisitions. The irregularities were listed, as well as the amounts of economic income generated to the municipal coffers. It can be observed that the amounts recovered have a small nominal representation, but great economic relevance. Considering that the functional costing of the activity performed by the SOM is low, since a large part of its staff consists of volunteers, it can be concluded that, given the results achieved, the SOM is a generator of positive externalities.