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Economic Freedom and Government Ideology Across the German States

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  • Niklas Potrafke

    () (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany)

Abstract

This paper examines whether government ideology influenced economic freedom across the German states. The results show that in former West Germany rightwing governments promoted economic freedom, whereas leftwing governments confined it. In former East Germany, however, rightwing governments have not been associated with propagating economic freedom. This finding appears to conflict with the common notion of policy convergence at the federal level. In fact, the observed variation in political preferences across states may indicate that politicians gratify the local electorate and, in return, offer moderate policies at the federal level.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of Konstanz in its series Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz with number 2011-41.

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Length: 36 pages
Date of creation: 19 Oct 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:knz:dpteco:1141

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Keywords: economic freedom; government and political ideology; institutions; panel data;

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Cited by:
  1. Baskaran, Thushyanthan, 2012. "Ideology and fiscal policy: quasi-experimental evidence from the German States," Center for European, Governance and Economic Development Research Discussion Papers 144, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.

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