Political Leaders’ Socioeconomic Background and Public Budget Deficits: Evidence from OECD Countries

Political Leaders’ Socioeconomic Background and Public Budget Deficits: Evidence from OECD Countries

This paper empirically analyses the relationship between political leaders’ socioeconomic backgrounds and public budget deficits utilising panel data on 21 OECD countries from 1980 to 2008. Building on sociological, as well as economic, research, we argue that the socioeconomic status of political d...

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Veröffentlicht in:MAGKS - Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics (Band 08-2013)
Autoren: Hayo, Bernd, Neumeier, Florian
Format: Artikel
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Philipps-Universität Marburg 2013
Schlagworte:
time preference.
Budget deficit
political leaders
Wirtschaft
socioeconomic status
Economics
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Zusammenfassung:This paper empirically analyses the relationship between political leaders’ socioeconomic backgrounds and public budget deficits utilising panel data on 21 OECD countries from 1980 to 2008. Building on sociological, as well as economic, research, we argue that the socioeconomic status of political decision-makers, i.e., presidents or prime ministers, is an important determinant of fiscal budget decisions. Our theory-consistent findings show that the tenures of lower-class leaders—i.e., leaders of low socioeconomic status—are associated with a deficit-to-GDP ratio which is 1.6 percentage points higher than that during tenures of upperclass leaders.
ISSN:1867-3678
DOI:10.17192/es2024.0171

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