PARTY AFFILIATION AND PUBLIC SPENDING: EVIDENCE FROM U.S. GOVERNORS |
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| Authors: | Louis‐Philippe Beland Sara Oloomi |
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| Institution: | 1. 1‐225‐371‐3214225‐578‐3807;2. Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70820;3. 1‐225‐921‐5822225‐578‐3807;4. PhD Student, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70820 |
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| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the party affiliation of governors (Democrat or Republican) has an impact on the allocation of state expenditures. Exploiting gubernatorial election results from 1960 to 2012 and a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD), we find that Democratic governors allocate a larger share of their budget to health/hospitals and education sectors. We find no significant impact of the political party of governors on total spending, only on the allocation of funds. The results are robust to a wide range of controls and model specifications. (JEL D72, H75, H72) |
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