Controlling government is a primary focus of the politico-economic literature. Recently, various political institutions have been analyzed from this perspective, most importantly balanced budget rules, fiscal federalism, and direct democracy. However, one type of institution has been neglected...

Various political institutions designed to control the government have been analyzed in the academic literature. However, an important institution has been neglected so far: independent auditing institutions with an extended mandate to audit the budget draft and individual policy proposals. We...

Abstract: Öffentlichen Rechnungsprüfern (z. B. Rechnungshöfen) wird eine wichtige Rolle bei der Kontrolle von Regierung und Verwaltung zugesprochen. Trotzdem wurden sie bisher aus ökonomischer Sicht kaum untersucht. Dieses Buch ist die erste systematische ökonomische Analyse des Einflusses...

This paper is the first attempt to study the relationship between public auditor expertise and fiscal performance. I find that states requiring the auditor to hold a professional degree feature significantly higher credit ratings and lower expenditures and debt.