Political Leaders’ Socioeconomic Background and Fiscal Performance in Germany

Bernd Hayo and Florian Neumeier ()

No 201141, MAGKS Papers on Economics from Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung)

Abstract: This paper investigates whether the socioeconomic status of the head of government helps explain fiscal performance. Applying sociological research that attributes differences in people’s ways of thinking and acting to their relative standing within society, we test whether the social status of German prime ministers can help explain differences in fiscal performance among the German Laender. Our empirical findings show that the tenures of prime ministers from a poorer socioeconomic background are associated with higher levels of public spending and debt financing.

Keywords: Leadership; socioeconomic status; fiscal policy; public spending; public deficit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E61 E62 H11 H72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Journal Article: Political leaders' socioeconomic background and fiscal performance in Germany (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mar:magkse:201141

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