Does government ideology influence budget composition? Empirical evidence from OECD countries

Potrafke, Niklas (2011): Does government ideology influence budget composition? Empirical evidence from OECD countries. In: Economics of Governance, Bd. 12, Nr. 2: S. 101-134

Abstract

This paper examines whether government ideology has influenced the allocation of public expenditures in OECD countries. I analyze two datasets that report different expenditure categories and cover the time periods 1970-1997 and 1990-2006, respectively. The results suggest that government ideology has had a rather weak influence on the composition of governments’ budgets. Leftist governments, however, increased spending on \"Public Services\" in the period 1970-1997 and on \"Education\" in the period 1990-2006. These findings imply, first, that government ideology hardly influenced budgetary affairs in the last decades, and thus, if ideology plays a role at all, it influences non-budgetary affairs. Second, education has become an important expenditure category for leftist parties to signal their political visions to voters belonging to all societal groups.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Volkswirtschaft ; Volkswirtschaft > Lehrstühle > CESifo-Professur für Volkswirtschaftslehre
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 330 Wirtschaft
• Sprache: Englisch