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Budget, expenditures composition and political manipulation: Evidence from Portugal

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  • Vítor Castro

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, and Economic Policies Research Unit (NIPE))

  • Rodrigo Martins

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra and Group for Monetary and Fiscal Studies (GEMF))

Abstract

This paper examines the presence of political cycles in Portuguese governments’ expenditures. The empirical analysis is done using monthly data for the main categories of government expenditures. The results indicate that Portuguese governments act opportunistically regarding the budget surplus and that they also favour capital instead of current spending near elections. Furthermore, right-wing governments tend to be more prone to expenditures’ reduction and deficits after the elections. A disaggregated analysis for the main components of government expenditures corroborates the previous findings and shows other relevant patterns of political manipulations.

Suggested Citation

  • Vítor Castro & Rodrigo Martins, 2015. "Budget, expenditures composition and political manipulation: Evidence from Portugal," NIPE Working Papers 4/2015, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    • Handle: RePEc:nip:nipewp:4/2015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lenka Malicka, 2018. "Political Expenditure Cycle in V4 Countries," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 14(3), pages 163-176.
    2. Olofinbiyi, Tolulope & Mogues, Tewodaj, 2017. "Who Influences Government Spending in Agriculture? The Roles of Public Actors in Subnational Funding Allocation in Nigeria," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 259572, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political budget cycles; Expenditure composition; Portugal; Elections; Fiscal policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation

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