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Divided They Fall: Fragmented Parliaments and Government Stability

Author

Listed:
  • Repetto, Luca

    (Department of Economics)

  • Cipullo, Davide

    (Department of Economics)

  • Carozzi, Felipe

    (Department of Geography and Environment)

Abstract

This paper studies how political fragmentation affects government stability. We show that each additional party with representation in Parliament increases the probability that the incumbent government is unseated by 4 percentage points. Governments with more resources at their disposal for bargaining are less likely to be replaced. When they are, new government leaders are younger and better educated, suggesting instability may induce positive selection. We interpret our results in light of a bargaining model of coalition formation featuring government instability. Our findings indicate that the rising fragmentation in parliaments worldwide may have a substantial impact on stability and political selection.

Suggested Citation

  • Repetto, Luca & Cipullo, Davide & Carozzi, Felipe, 2020. "Divided They Fall: Fragmented Parliaments and Government Stability," Working Paper Series 2020:1, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2020_001
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephan Schneider & Sven Kunze, 2021. "Disastrous Discretion: Ambiguous Decision Situations Foster Political Favoritism," KOF Working papers 21-491, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government Stability; Fragmentation; No-confidence votes; Bargaining; Alignment effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • R50 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - General

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