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When Left Is Right: Party Ideology and Policy in Post-Communist Europe

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  • TAVITS, MARGIT
  • LETKI, NATALIA

Abstract

According to the classic partisan theory of spending, leftist parties are expected to increase government spending, and rightist parties are expected to decrease it. We argue that this relationship does not hold in post-Communist countries, where in the context of dual transition to democracy and to a market economy, leftist parties have had stronger incentives and better opportunities to enact tighter budgets, whereas rightist parties were compelled to spend more in order to alleviate economic hardships. We illustrate this theoretical argument with case studies from Hungary and Poland. We then test and find support for our theory by considering the influence of cabinet ideology on total, health, and education spending in thirteen post-Communist democracies from 1989 to 2004. We explore various alternative explanations and provide further narratives to support our causal argument.

Suggested Citation

  • Tavits, Margit & Letki, Natalia, 2009. "When Left Is Right: Party Ideology and Policy in Post-Communist Europe," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(4), pages 555-569, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:103:y:2009:i:04:p:555-569_99
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    Cited by:

    1. Iuliana Precupetu & M. Precupetu, 2013. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in Romania," GINI Country Reports romania, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    2. Niklas Jakobsson & Raya Muttarak & Mi Ah Schoyen, 2018. "Dividing the pie in the eco-social state: Exploring the relationship between public support for environmental and welfare policies," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(2), pages 313-339, March.
    3. Cristina Bodea, 2013. "Independent central banks, regime type, and fiscal performance: the case of post-communist countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 81-107, April.
    4. Sergiu Gherghina & George Jiglău, 2013. "Outside the Government: Why Ethnic Parties Fail to Join the Post-Communist Cabinets," Working Papers 335, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    5. Mark Hallerberg, 2012. "Explaining European Patterns of Taxation: From the Introduction of the Euro to the Euro-Crisis," Research Department Publications 4777, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    6. Krzysztof Krakowski & Juan S. Morales & Dani Sandu, 2020. "Violence Against Politicians, Negative Campaigning, and Public Opinion: Evidence from Poland," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 624 JEL Classification: D, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    7. Gabriel Asante, 2023. "The Politics of Social Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Configurational Approach to Fee-Free Policies at the High School Level," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    8. Mumuni Abdul Wahid, 2024. "Influence of Social Policy Intervention; An Analysis of Free Senior High School Policy in Ghana as a Tool to Improve Lives or a Tool to Gain Votes in Elections," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(4), pages 906-916, April.
    9. Berlemann, Michael, 2014. "Inflation aversion in transition countries: Empirical evidence from the Baltic States," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 415-432.
    10. Esther Ademmer & Joscha Beckmann & Rainer Schweickert, 2014. "Large-scale Transformations of Socio-economic Institutions," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 50892, April.
    11. Nina Lopez Uroz, 2020. "Populism Amidst Prosperity: Poland's Growth Model and its Socio-Political Outcomes," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 159, European Institute, LSE.
    12. Ondrej Schneider, 2019. "Partisan Fiscal Policy: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 8014, CESifo.
    13. Mitchell Orenstein & Bojan Bugaric, 2020. "Populism Amidst Prosperity: Work, Family, Fatherland: The Political Economy of Populism in Central and Eastern Europe," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 163, European Institute, LSE.
    14. Borbáth, Endre & Gessler, Theresa, 2020. "Different worlds of contention? Protest in Northwestern, Southern and Eastern Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(4), pages 910-935.
    15. Joscha Beckmann & Rainer Schweickert & Markus Ahlborn & Inna Melnykovska, 2020. "Drivers of Government Activity in European Countries: Do Partisan Politics Still Divide East and West?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1235-1251, September.
    16. Adeline Otto & Dimitri Gugushvili, 2020. "Eco-Social Divides in Europe: Public Attitudes towards Welfare and Climate Change Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, January.
    17. Kühnast, Julia, 2022. "Growth regimes of populist governments: A comparative study on Hungary and Poland," IPE Working Papers 199/2022, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    18. Jaan Masso & K. Espenberg & Anu Masso & I. Mierina & Kaia Philips, 2013. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania," GINI Country Reports baltics, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    19. Héctor Bellido & Lorena Olmos & Juan Antonio Román-Aso, 2019. "Do political factors influence public health expenditures? Evidence pre- and post-great recession," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(3), pages 455-474, April.

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