Westerlund, Joakim () (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) Mahdavi, Saeid (University of Texas at San Antonio)
Abstract
We re-examine the tax-spending nexus using a panel of 50 US state-local government units between 1963 and 1997. We find that, unlike tax revenues, expenditures adjust to revert back to a long-term equilibrium relationship. The evidence on the short-term dynamics is also consistent with the tax-and-spend hypothesis. One implication of this finding is that the size of the government at the state-local level is not determined by expenditure demand, but rather by resource supply. This is consistent with the fact that many US state and local governments operate under constitutional or legislative limitations that seek to constrain deficits.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Göteborg University, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers in Economics with number
378.
Length: 18 pages Date of creation: 11 Sep 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0378
Contact details of provider: Postal: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University Box 640, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG, Sweden Phone: 031-773 10 00 Web page: http://www.handels.gu.se/econ/ More information through EDIRC
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Find related papers by JEL classification: C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
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