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Austerity and elections

Author

Listed:
  • Alberto Alesina
  • Gabriele Ciminelli
  • Davide Furceri
  • Giorgio Saponaro

Abstract

This paper revisits the conventional but unproven wisdom that voters penalize governments for adopting fiscal austerity in a sample of advanced economies. We consider the composition of the austerity package and the economic manifesto of the implementing government, and find that austerity packages consisting mostly of tax hikes have a significant electoral cost, which is larger for government parties that campaigned on a free‐market manifesto. Conversely, expenditure‐based austerity is costlier for government parties that did not run on a small‐government platform, but may be beneficial for those that did.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Alesina & Gabriele Ciminelli & Davide Furceri & Giorgio Saponaro, 2024. "Austerity and elections," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(363), pages 1075-1099, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:91:y:2024:i:363:p:1075-1099
    DOI: 10.1111/ecca.12534
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    Cited by:

    1. Vybhavi Balasundharam & Olivier Basdevant & Dalmacio Benicio & Andrew Ceber & Yujin Kim & Luca Mazzone & Hoda Selim & Yongzheng Yang, 2023. "Fiscal Consolidation: Taking Stock of Success Factors, Impact, and Design," IMF Working Papers 2023/063, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Gabriel, Ricardo Duque & Klein, Mathias & Pessoa, Sofia, 2022. "The Political Costs of Austerity," Working Paper Series 418, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    3. Alpino, Matteo & Asatryan, Zareh & Blesse, Sebastian & Wehrhöfer, Nils, 2022. "Austerity and distributional policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 112-127.

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