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Effects of political rivalry on public investments in education and income inequality

Author

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  • Sochirca, Elena
  • Afonso, Óscar
  • Silva, Sandra Tavares
  • Neves, Pedro Cunha

Abstract

In this paper we intend to empirically examine the impact of political rivalry on four selected macroeconomic variables: public investments in education, school enrollment, GDP per capita and income inequality. We first construct a political rivalry indicator and examine how it varies across different groups of countries. We then perform a series of regressions and find that in lower income countries there is a significant negative impact of political rivalry on the selected variables, while in higher income countries the impact is weaker. This suggests that the channels linking political rivalry to macroeconomic variables differ with the development level.

Suggested Citation

  • Sochirca, Elena & Afonso, Óscar & Silva, Sandra Tavares & Neves, Pedro Cunha, 2016. "Effects of political rivalry on public investments in education and income inequality," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 372-396.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:38:y:2016:i:2:p:372-396
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2016.03.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Mussida, Chiara & Sciulli, Dario & Signorelli, Marcello, 2019. "Secondary school dropout and work outcomes in ten developing countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 547-567.
    3. Elena Sochirca & Francisco José Veiga, 2017. "Measuring political rivalry and estimating its effect on economic growth," NIPE Working Papers 04/2017, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    4. Vicente, Iván & Pastor, José M. & Soler, Ángel, 2021. "Improving educational resilience in the OECD countries: Two convergent paths," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 1149-1166.
    5. Elena Sochirca & Oscar Afonso & Sandra T. Silva, 2017. "Political Rivalry Effects on Human Capital Accumulation and Inequality: A New Political Economy Approach," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 699-729, November.
    6. Brock, Gregory & German-Soto, Vicente, 2017. "Regional industrial informality and efficiency in Mexico, 1990–2013," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 928-941.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic development; Inequality; Institutions; Political rivalry; Public education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • P0 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - General

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