The Politics of Budgets

Christine S. Lipsmeyer is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas A & M University. Her research interests merge many areas of political science, including comparative political economy, public policy, governing institutions, and political behavior. Andrew Q. Philips is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests are in political economy and comparative politics, as well as methodological interests in machine learning, time series, panel and compositional data. Guy D. Whitten is the Cullen-McFadden Professor of Political Science, as well as the Director of the European Union Center, at Texas A & M University. His research focuses on comparative political economy, comparative public policy, and political methodology.

• 1. Introduction; 2. A Theory of Budgets; 3. Political Competition and the Expenditure Pie; 4. The Effects of Elections, Economics and International Shocks on the Expenditure Pie; 5. Four Sides of the Budgetary Ledger; 6. The Effects of Elections, Economics and External Shocks on the Budgetary Ledger; 7. Conclusion: The Budgetary Mix.

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