Predicting changes on budget expenditures using Markov chains with practical application

Abstract

The researchers have a special interest in studying  Markov  chains as one of the probability samples which has many applications in different fields. This study comes to deal with the changes issue that happen on budget expenditures by using statistical methods, and Markov chains is the best expression about that as they are regarded reliable  samples in the prediction process. A transitional matrix is built for three expenditure cases (increase ,decrease ,stability) for one of budget expenditure items (base salary) for three directorates (Baghdad ,Nineveh , Diyala) of one  of the ministries. Results are analyzed by applying  Maximum likelihood estimation  and Ordinary least squares  methods resulting a stable  transitional probability matrix and predicting each studied case  and any behavior may take  in the future.