Political business cycles at the municipal level

Konferenzbeitrag

The political article tests for rational political business cycles models on an unexplored and large data set of Portuguese municipalities. This data allows for a clean test of the models due to its high level of detail on expenditure items, an exogenous fixed election schedule and the homogeneity of local governments with respect to policy instruments and institutions. Estimation results clearly reveal the opportunistic behaviour of local governments, that in pre-electoral periods, increase expenditure on items highly visible to the electorate such as roads and street construction, in an effort to signal competence and increase their chances of re-election. JEL classification: H72, D72, D78 Keywords: political business cycles, public finance, local governments

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: 44th Congress of the European Regional Science Association: "Regions and Fiscal Federalism", 25th - 29th August 2004, Porto, Portugal

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; State and Local Budget and Expenditures ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
• Subject: political business cycles ; public finance ; local governments

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Veiga, Linda ; Veiga, Francisco
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): European Regional Science Association (ERSA)
• (where): Louvain-la-Neuve
• (when): 2004

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/117152
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET