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The fiscal benefits of repeated cooperation: coalitions and debt dynamics in 36 democracies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2016

David Weisstanner
David Weisstanner*
Affiliation:
Institute of Political Science, University of Bern, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Do coalition governments really suffer from short time horizons in fiscal policymaking, as posited by standard political-economy models? This article focusses on coalitions that have created high levels of familiarity through shared governing experiences in the past and that are likely to cooperate again in future governing coalitions. I argue that such coalitions have incentives to internalise the future costs of debt accumulation and reach credible agreements to balance their constituencies’ fiscal preferences. Moreover, sustaining broad coalitions should have electoral advantages to implementing controversial economic reforms, thus resulting in lower debt increases compared not only with less durable coalitions but also with single-party governments. Comparing 36 economically advanced democracies between (up to) 1962 and 2013, I estimate the effects of coalitions’ cooperation prospects on the dynamics of public debt. The findings indicate that long time horizons can help coalitions to overcome intertemporal coordination problems and to reach specific policy goals.

Keywords

coalition governmentcooperationfiscal policygovernment debtpolitical parties
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 143 - 172
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2016 

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