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Policy Choices in Assembly versus Representative Democracy : Evidence from Swiss Communes

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  • Patricia Funk

    (Department of Economics, Universita della Svizzera italiana)

  • Stephan Litschig

    (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan)

Abstract

This paper investigates whether the form of the legislative institution - assembly versus parliament - affects the level and composition of local public expenditure. We use two research designs in distinct samples of Swiss communes. Our event study analysis focuses on medium-sized and mostly German-speaking communes that switched from assembly to parliament from 1945 to 2010. The regression discontinuity analysis is based on small communes from a French-speaking canton over the period 1986-2005 and exploits a cutoff in local population. Event study estimates suggest that parliament adoption increases total spending by about 6 percent and that this increase is driven mostly by general administration and education spending. In contrast, regression discontinuity estimates are too noisy to be informative. To understand the mechanism at play, we run a survey among assembly participants and document a sizeable under-representation of 20- to 40-year-olds as well as of women in assemblies compared to both the electorate and to voters. Switching from assembly democracy to parliament in our setting therefore seems to increase the representation of two demographics that are known for their relatively strong preferences for education spending.

Suggested Citation

  • Patricia Funk & Stephan Litschig, 2018. "Policy Choices in Assembly versus Representative Democracy : Evidence from Swiss Communes," GRIPS Discussion Papers 17-14, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:ngi:dpaper:17-14
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    Cited by:

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    2. Galletta, Sergio, 2021. "Form of government and voters’ preferences for public spending," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 548-561.
    3. Geschwind, Stephan & Roesel, Felix, 2022. "Taxation under direct democracy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 536-554.
    4. Koukal, Anna Maria & Schafer, Patricia & Eichenberger, Reiner, 2024. "Empowering the next generation: The role of direct democracy in youth enfranchisement," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Koukal, Anna Maria & Schafer, Patricia & Eichenberger, Reiner, 2021. "Enfranchising non-citizens: What drives natives’ willingness to share power?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 1088-1108.
    6. Anna Maria Koukal & Patricia Schafer & Reiner Eichenberger, 2020. "The Trade-off between Deepening and Broadening of Democracy Lessons from Youth Enfranchisement," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-16, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    7. Doina Maria Radulescu & Philippe Sulger, 2021. "Interdependencies Between Countries in the Provision of Energy," CESifo Working Paper Series 8896, CESifo.
    8. Radulescu, Doina & Sulger, Philippe, 2022. "Interdependencies between countries in the provision of energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

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