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The Tax-Spending Nexus: Evidence from a Panel of US State- Local Governments

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  • Westerlund, Joakim

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Mahdavi, Saeid

    (University of Texas at San Antonio)

Abstract

We re-examine the tax-spending nexus using a panel of 50 US state-local government units between 1963 and 1997. We find that, unlike tax revenues, expenditures adjust to revert back to a long-term equilibrium relationship. The evidence on the short-term dynamics is also consistent with the tax-and-spend hypothesis. One implication of this finding is that the size of the government at the state-local level is not determined by expenditure demand, but rather by resource supply. This is consistent with the fact that many US state and local governments operate under constitutional or legislative limitations that seek to constrain deficits.

Suggested Citation

  • Westerlund, Joakim & Mahdavi, Saeid, 2009. "The Tax-Spending Nexus: Evidence from a Panel of US State- Local Governments," Working Papers in Economics 378, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0378
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bayer, Ralph-C. & Oberhofer, Harald & Winner, Hannes, 2015. "The occurrence of tax amnesties: Theory and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 70-82.
    3. Ahmad Zubaidi Baharumshah & Aliyu Alhaji Jibrilla & Abdalla Sirag & Hamisu Sadi Ali & Ibrahim Muye Muhammad, 2016. "Public Revenue-Expenditure Nexus in South Africa: Are there Asymmetries?," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 84(4), pages 520-537, December.
    4. Emre BULUT & Dilek ÇİL, 2024. "Asymmetric Causality Relationship Between Public Expenditures and Tax Revenues: Transition Economies Case," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 32(60).
    5. Nithin K, 2015. "The Case of Revenue versus Expenditure Optimization in India," Working Papers 1528, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
    6. Aliyu Alhaji Jibrilla, 2016. "Fiscal sustainability in the presence of structural breaks: Does overconfidence on resource exports hurt government’s ability to finance debt? Evidence from Nigeria," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1170317-117, December.
    7. Arcade NDORICIMPA, 2017. "Analysis of Asymmetries in the Tax-Spending Nexus in Burundi," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 53-70, March.
    8. Akram, Vaseem & Rath, Badri Narayan, 2020. "What do we know about fiscal sustainability across Indian states?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 307-321.
    9. Johann Bröthaler & Michael Getzner, 2015. "The Tax-Spend Debate and Budgetary Policy in Austria," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 21(3), pages 299-315, August.
    10. Syed Ali Raza & Syed Zaki Hassan & Arshian Sharif, 2019. "Asymmetric Relationship Between Government Revenues and Expenditures in a Developing Economy: Evidence from a Non-linear Model," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 20(5), pages 1179-1195, October.
    11. Mihai Mutascu, 2015. "Government revenues and expenditures in the EU ex-communist countries: a bootstrap panel Granger causality approach," Working Papers halshs-01109233, HAL.
    12. Krasnopeeva, Natalia, 2023. "Revenues and expenditures of Russian regional budgets: Granger causality analysis," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 70, pages 5-33.
    13. Josep Lluís Carrion-I-Silvestre, 2016. "Fiscal Deficit Sustainability of the Spanish Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1702-1713, October.
    14. Olumuyiwa Ganiyu Yinusa & Olalekan Bashir Aworinde & Isiaq Olasunkanmi Oseni, 2017. "The Revenue-Expenditure Nexus in Nigeria: Assymetric Cointegration Approach," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 15(1), pages 47-61.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax-spend; State and local government; Public finance; Panel unit root; Panel cointegration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures

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