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Opportunistic politicians and fiscal outcomes: the curious case of Vorarlberg

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  • Köppl Turyna, Monika

Abstract

Using a unique set of electoral rules present in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, we explore the question whether local electoral rules affect the size of local governments. We find evidence that party--list system is associated with higher levels of expenditure and that direct elections of the mayor are associated with lower size of the public sector. The results are robust to the possibility that electoral rules might be endogenous to the local economic and geographic conditions.

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  • Köppl Turyna, Monika, 2015. "Opportunistic politicians and fiscal outcomes: the curious case of Vorarlberg," MPRA Paper 64201, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:64201
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    Cited by:

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    2. Geschwind, Stephan & Roesel, Felix, 2022. "Taxation under direct democracy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 536-554.
    3. Dirk Foremny & Ronny Freier & Marc-Daniel Moessinger & Mustafa Yeter, 2018. "Overlapping political budget cycles," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 1-27, October.
    4. Luisa Doerr & Niklas Potrafke & Felix Roesel & Luisa Dörr, 2021. "Populists in Power," CESifo Working Paper Series 9336, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    local expenditure; opportunistic politicians; electoral rules;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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