Veto Players and Policy Trade-Offs- An Intertemporal Approach to Study the Effects of Political Institutions on Policy

Carlos Scartascini (), Mariano Tommasi and Ernesto Stein

No 4660, Research Department Publications from Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department

Abstract: The capacity to sustain policies over time and the capacity to adjust policies in the face of changing circumstances are two desirable properties of policymaking systems. The veto player approach has suggested that polities with more veto players will have the capacity to sustain policies at the expense of the ability to change policy when necessary. This paper disputes that assertion from an intertemporal perspective, drawing from transaction cost economics and repeated game theory and showing that some countries might have both more credibility and more adaptability than others. More generally, the paper argues that, when studying the effects of political institutions on policy outcomes, a perspective of intertemporal politics might lead to predictions different from those emanating from more a-temporal approaches.

Keywords: Political institutions; Public policies; Veto players; Policy adaptability; Policy stability; Intertemporal; Credibility; Repeated games (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D78 H10 H50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gth, nep-hpe, nep-lam, nep-mic and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Veto Players and Policy Trade-Offs: An Intertemporal Approach to Study the Effects of Political Institutions on Policy (2010)
Working Paper: Veto Players and Policy Trade-offs. An Intertemporal Approach to Study the Effects of Political Institutions on Policy (2010)
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