Fiscal performance and the re‑election of finance ministers evidence from the Swiss cantons Aurélia Buchs, Nils Soguel
By: Buchs, Aurélia
.
Contributor(s): Soguel, Nils.
Material type: 
ArticleSubject(s): POLITICA FISCAL | DEFICIT PUBLICO | REDUCCION | ELECCIONES | MINISTROS DE HACIENDA | SUIZA
In:
Public Choice v. 191, n. 1-2, April 2022, p. 31-49Summary: Using data from 225 cantonal government elections over the 1980–2019 period in Switzerland, we estimate the effect of fiscal performance on the vote share of finance ministers seeking re-election. Our estimations show that finance ministers benefit statistically and electorally from balancing fiscal accounts and presenting budget surpluses. Improving the fiscal balance by 1000 Swiss francs per inhabitant in the pre-election year raises the electoral result of a finance minister by 1.4–5.4 percentage points from the vote share of her previous election. We present evidence for politician-specific monitoring: the finance minister—in contrast to the spending ministers—seems to be the sole member of government who benefits, electorally, from debt reduction. Correcting for possible selection phenomena, our results suggest that the electoral effect of fiscal performance may not be caused by a selection bias but rather by the office of the finance ministry itself.
| Item type | Current location | Home library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artículos | IEF | IEF | OP 1443/2022/191/1/2-1 (Browse shelf) | Available | OP 1443/2022/191/1/2-1 |
Browsing IEF Shelves Close shelf browser
| No cover image available | No cover image available | No cover image available | No cover image available | No cover image available | No cover image available | No cover image available | ||
| OP 1443/2022/1/2 Public Choice | OP 1443/2022/190/1/2-1 Understanding cross-cultural differences in peer reporting practices | OP 1443/2022/191/1/2 Public Choice | OP 1443/2022/191/1/2-1 Fiscal performance and the re‑election of finance ministers | OP 1443/2022/191/1/2-2 A Tullock Index for assessing the effectiveness of redistribution | OP 1443/2022/192/1/2 Public Choice | OP 1443/2022/192/1/2-1 Estimating the effect of rent-seeking on income distribution |
Resumen.
Bibliografía.
Using data from 225 cantonal government elections over the 1980–2019 period in Switzerland, we estimate the effect of fiscal performance on the vote share of finance ministers seeking re-election. Our estimations show that finance ministers benefit statistically and electorally from balancing fiscal accounts and presenting budget surpluses. Improving the fiscal balance by 1000 Swiss francs per inhabitant in the pre-election year raises the electoral result of a finance minister by 1.4–5.4 percentage points from the vote share of her previous election. We present evidence for politician-specific monitoring: the finance minister—in contrast to the spending ministers—seems to be the sole member of government who benefits, electorally, from debt reduction. Correcting for possible selection phenomena, our results suggest that the electoral effect of fiscal performance may not be caused by a selection bias but rather by the office of the finance ministry itself.
Click on an image to view it in the image viewer
There are no comments for this item.