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The Determinants of Political Discussion: How important are audit courts and local autonomy?

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  • Torgler, Benno
  • Schaltegger, Christoph A

Abstract

The intention of this paper is to analyse how audit courts and local autonomy affect political discussion, controlling in a multivariate analysis for a broad variety of potential factors focusing on Switzerland, due to its variety of audit court competences and its strong decentralised structure. With data from the World Values Survey 1995-1997 (Swiss data 1996) evidence has been found that a higher audit court competence and a lower level of centralization is correlated with a higher level of political discussion. Thus, the results in Switzerland suggest that such institutions help improve citizens’ willingness to acquire information costs and discuss political matters.

Suggested Citation

  • Torgler, Benno & Schaltegger, Christoph A, 2006. "The Determinants of Political Discussion: How important are audit courts and local autonomy?," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt34v756hb, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:oplwec:qt34v756hb
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    Cited by:

    1. Blume, Lorenz & Voigt, Stefan, 2011. "Does organizational design of supreme audit institutions matter? A cross-country assessment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 215-229, June.
    2. Huseyin Cicek & Suleyman Dikmen, 2021. "External Audit And Fiscal Transparency: An Empirical Analysis," Public administration issues, Higher School of Economics, issue 5, pages 7-26.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    D720; H410;

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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