Budget, expenditures composition and political manipulation: Evidence from Portugal

Vítor Castro () and Rodrigo Martins
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Vítor Castro: Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, and NIPE, Portugal

No 2015-13, GEMF Working Papers from GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra

Abstract: This paper examines the presence of political cycles in Portuguese governments’ expenditures. The empirical analysis is done using monthly data for the main categories of government expenditures. The results indicate that Portuguese governments act opportunistically regarding the budget surplus and that they also favour capital instead of current spending near elections. Furthermore, right-wing governments tend to be more prone to expenditures’ reduction and deficits after the elections. A disaggregated analysis for the main components of government expenditures corroborates the previous findings and shows other relevant patterns of political manipulations.

Keywords: Political budget cycles; Expenditure composition; Portugal; Elections; Fiscal policy. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D78 H72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2015-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Budget, expenditures composition and political manipulation: Evidence from Portugal (2015)
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