The authors test how government revenue and expenditure depend on ideology, elections, and economic activity. They show how fiscal forecasts can be used to identify the determinants of government revenue and expenditure. The approach is illustrated using a unique, unpublished Swedish data set of...

In 1982-83 a mining company in northern Sweden laid off 1,800 employees. The Parliament allotted SEK 309 million for a program of job-creating measures. Evaluation of these measures requires a welfare-theoretic foundation. This analysis focuses on the welfare implications of public production of...