Institutional Arrangements and Fiscal Performance: The Latin American Experience / Ernesto Stein, Ernesto Talvi, Alejandro Grisanti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stein, Ernesto.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Talvi, Ernesto.

Grisanti, Alejandro.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w6358.

NBER working paper series no. w6358

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fiscal policy--Latin America.

Fiscal policy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Institutional Arrangements and Fiscal Performance

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1998.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1998.

Summary:

This paper explores the links between institutional arrangements and fiscal performance in" Latin America. We consider four measures of fiscal performance, namely expenditures, the size of fiscal deficits and debt, and the response of fiscal policy to business" fluctuations; and two institutional dimensions, namely, electoral systems and budgetary processes. " We find evidence that electoral systems characterized by a large degree of proportionality large district magnitude, tend to have larger governments, larger deficits and a more procyclical" response to the business cycle. We also find that more transparent and hierarchical budgetary" procedures lead to lower deficits and debt. Contrary to the findings of Hallerberg and von Hagen" for European countries, we find no evidence that centralized budgetary arrangements neutralize the" potentially adverse impact on fiscal deficits of a larger degree of proportionality of the electoral" system.

Notes:

Print version record

January 1998.