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Spending Levels of Political Parties: An Explanation Based on a Multilevel Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2017

Jef Smulders  and
Bart Maddens
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Abstract

This article examines the determinants of the annual overall spending levels of political parties from a comparative perspective. On the basis of a dataset with 1,317 observations from 99 parties in nine European parliamentary democracies, we illustrate that the spending levels of parties – calculated on the basis of Nassmacher’s index of political spending – have not systematically increased over the past decade. A multilevel analysis shows that, at the country level, spending levels are higher in countries with a longer tradition of public funding, a higher effective number of parties and a shorter democratic tradition. They are also higher in election years, but this effect is moderated when campaign spending limits apply. At the party level, spending levels increase with party strength and party age. Party ideology and government participation, on the other hand, do not have an effect.

Keywords

party spendingspending levelsparty organizationhierarchical modelscost explosion
Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 254 - 279
Copyright
© The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

Jef Smulders is a Research Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), affiliated to the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. Contact email: Jef.Smulders@kuleuven.be.

Bart Maddens is a Professor of Political Science at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. Contact email: Bart.Maddens@kuleuven.be.

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