Election-Related Cycles in Publicly Supplied Goods in Albania

Holger Kachelein, Endrit Lami and Drini Imami
Additional contact information
Holger Kachelein: University of Tirana DAAD-Lecturer Economics
Endrit Lami: Budapest University of Technology and Economics

South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, 2011, vol. 9, issue 1, 13-25

Abstract: It is widely perceived by public opinion that incumbents try to improve the economic situation before elections to impress voters, typically through fiscal and/or monetary expansion policies, creating in this way Political Business Cycles (PBC). However, governments in transition countries may use additional instruments, up to now not covered by the PBC literature. Throughout the transition, the electricity supply has not been regular in Albania, reflected in systematic daily interruptions to supply for households and business throughout the country, seriously affecting their wellbeing. Thus, it is rational that the incumbent commits to improving electricity supply to please the voters before elections, using its monopoly position in the production and supply of electricity. The results confirm our hypotheses that before elections, the supply of electricity increases significantly above usual levels, followed by a contraction after elections.

Keywords: Political Business Cycle; Electricity; Albania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 E32 H72 P26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Elections related cycles in publicly supplied goods in Albania (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:seb:journl:v:9:y:2011:i:1:p:13-25

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