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A Theory of Cyclical Production of Laws and Decrees

Author

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  • Fabio Padovano

    (CREM-CNRS et Centre Condorcet, Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France; and DIPES, University of Roma Tre)

  • Ilaria Petrarca

    (Centre Condorcet, Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France)

Abstract

This paper provides a theory explaining the observed cyclical pattern of the approbation of laws and decrees through a legislature. We study an environment with three (sets of) agents, an incumbent government, unorganized voters and special interest groups. Special interest groups differ from voters in that they are better informed and can transfer private resources to the government. In return from votes and resources, the government provides two types of goods that differ in terms of their redistributive profile, a general public good and a targeted club good. To produce these goods the government must approve legislation either in the form of laws visible to all agents or decrees visible only to special interest groups. We show that the legislator generates an electoral cycle of the general public good at the end of the legislature by distorting upwards the production of laws to increase his probability of being re-elected. To signal his competence and collect the resources for the electoral campaign from the special interest groups, he also generates a pre-electoral cycle of the targeted good by distorting upwards the production of decrees. The theoretical results match the findings of the empirical literature, that detects a decree cycle at the beginning of the legislature and a law cycle at its the end.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Padovano & Ilaria Petrarca, 2012. "A Theory of Cyclical Production of Laws and Decrees," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2012-09-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:tut:cccrwp:2012-09-ccr
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Francesco Lagona & Antonello Maruotti & Fabio Padovano, 2012. "The opposite Cycles of Laws and Decrees," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2012-01-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
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    Cited by:

    1. Josef Brechler & Adam Geršl, 2014. "Political legislation cycle in the Czech Republic," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 137-153, June.
    2. Gael Lagadec, 2014. "Are political support-driven policies always bad? The case of large interest groups," European Journal of Government and Economics, Europa Grande, vol. 3(2), pages 138-147, December.
    3. Francesco Lagona & Antonello Maruotti & Fabio Padovano, 2015. "Multilevel multivariate modelling of legislative count data, with a hidden Markov chain," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 178(3), pages 705-723, June.

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