Do political institutions shape economic policy? I argue that this question should naturally appeal to economists. Moreover, the answer is in the affirmative, both in theory and in practice. In particular, recent theoretical work predicts systematic eects of electoral rules and political regimes on the size and composition of government spending. And results from ongoing empirical work indicate that such eect are indeed present in international panel data. Some empirical results are consistent with theoretical predictions: presidential regimes have smaller governments and countries with majoritarian elections have smaller welfare-state programs and less corruption. Other results present puzzles for future research: the adjustment to economic events is clearly institution-dependent, as is the timing and nature of the electoral cycle.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
8214.
Length: Date of creation: Apr 2001 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8214
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
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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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Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini & Francesco Trebbi, .
"Electoral Rules and Corruption,"
Working Papers
182, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
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