We try to demonstrate how economists may engage in research on comparative politics, relating the size and composition of government spending to the political system. A Downsian model of electoral competition and forward-looking voting indicates that majoritarian - as opposed to proportional - elections increase competition between parties by focusing it into some key marginal districts. This leads to less public goods, less rents for politicians, more redistribution and larger government. A model of legislative bargaining and backward-looking voting indicates that presidential - as opposed to parliamentary - regimes increase competition between both politicians and voters. This leads to less public goods, less rents for politicians, less redistribution and smaller government. We confront these predictions with cross-country data from around 1990, controlling for economic and social determinants of government spending. We find strong and robust support for the prediction that the size of government is smaller under presidential regimes, and weaker support for the prediction that majoritarian election are associated with less public goods.
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Paper provided by Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies in its series Seminar Papers with number
658.
Length: 53 pages Date of creation: 05 Oct 1998 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:iiessp:0658
Note: Published in: European Economic Review 43, 1999, 699-735 Contact details of provider: Postal: Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46-8-162000 Fax: +46-8-161443 Web page: http://www.iies.su.se/ More information through EDIRC
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Alberto F. Alesina & Roberto Perotti, 1999.
"Budget Deficits and Budget Institutions,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Fiscal Institutions and Fiscal Performance, pages 13-36
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
Persson, Torsten & Roland , Gérard & Tabellini, Guido, 1997.
"Comparative Politics and Public Finance,"
Seminar Papers
633, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.
[Downloadable!]
Other versions:
Torsten Persson & Gerard Roland & Guido Tabellini, .
"Comparative Politics and Public Finance,"
Working Papers
114, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
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