This paper studies the impact of national fiscal rules on government size as measured by the ratio of government … have a negative impact on government size. Contrasting the model, their impact becomes smaller as the number of ministers …

that a central government engages in devolution of powers depends in important ways on the political forces that it faces …, the theory’s main insight being that the central government’s electoral strength should, all else being equal, decrease … that government’s share of spending. Consistent with the model’s predictions, empirical results from a panel of democracies …

Divided government is often thought of as causing legislative deadlock. I investigate the link between divided … government and economic reforms using a novel data set on welfare reforms in US states between 1978 and 2010. Panel data … regressions show that under divided government a US state is around 25% more likely to adopt a welfare reform than under unified …