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Local Government Expenditures in Belgium: Do Political Distinctions Matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Victor Ginsburgh  and
Pierre Pestieau
Victor Ginsburgh
Affiliation:
University of Brussels, Belgium
Pierre Pestieau
Affiliation:
University of Liège, Belgium
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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to test whether public spending by local communities in Belgium is influenced by local politics. Unlike previous studies which are briefly surveyed, we test alternative models of the local budgetary decision, and systematically favour the one which includes political variables. In spite of this deliberate bias, political factors influence neither the level nor the structure of local public spending in Belgium. This may imply little differentiation among parties at the local level, rather than institutional constraints.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Political Research , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1981 , pp. 169 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company

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Footnotes

*

We are grateful to Mogens N. Pedersen and to two anonymous referees who made readable a previous draft of this paper.

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