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Does the size of the legislature affect the size of government? Evidence from two natural experiments

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  • Pettersson-Lidbom, Per

Abstract

This paper makes use of regression discontinuity designs to estimate the effect of the number of legislators on the size of government. The results indicate a negative effect, i.e., the larger the size of the legislature the smaller is the size of government. This runs counter to conventional wisdom. One potential explanation is that more legislators can better control a budget maximizing bureaucracy. I present evidence that is consistent with the proposed mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Pettersson-Lidbom, Per, 2012. "Does the size of the legislature affect the size of government? Evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 269-278.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:96:y:2012:i:3:p:269-278
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.07.004
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government spending; Legislature size; Legislative policy-making; Distributive politics; Regression–discontinuity design; Panel data;

    JEL classification:

    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • P16 - Economic Systems - - Capitalist Systems - - - Political Economy of Capitalism
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • K10 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - General (Constitutional Law)
    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General

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