Final published version
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The cyclicality of government foreign-aid expenditure
T2 - voter awareness in “good” times and in “bad”
AU - Abbott, A.
AU - Jones, Philip
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - While it has been argued that the cyclicality of government spending likely depends on the intensities of political pressure to increase expenditure, in economic upturns and downturns, it is important to explore the determinants of changes in the strengths of those pressures. This paper is the first (to our knowledge) to focus on the relevance of systematic changes in voter awareness of government spending. Predictions of the impact of changes in awareness are tested with reference to 23 OECD donor countries’ foreign aid expenditures over the 1999–2015 period. The evidence offers insights into the discretion governments exercise when “fiscal illusion” increases and into the policy implications of systematic changes in voter awareness (in “good” times and in “bad”).
AB - While it has been argued that the cyclicality of government spending likely depends on the intensities of political pressure to increase expenditure, in economic upturns and downturns, it is important to explore the determinants of changes in the strengths of those pressures. This paper is the first (to our knowledge) to focus on the relevance of systematic changes in voter awareness of government spending. Predictions of the impact of changes in awareness are tested with reference to 23 OECD donor countries’ foreign aid expenditures over the 1999–2015 period. The evidence offers insights into the discretion governments exercise when “fiscal illusion” increases and into the policy implications of systematic changes in voter awareness (in “good” times and in “bad”).
KW - Government Expenditure
KW - Foreign Aid
KW - Fiscal Illusion
KW - Voracity Effects
U2 - 10.1007/s11127-019-00757-6
DO - 10.1007/s11127-019-00757-6
M3 - Journal article
VL - 186
SP - 97
EP - 117
JO - Public Choice
JF - Public Choice
SN - 0048-5829
ER -