A main question regarding public finance is how well democratic institutions align the interest of voters and the incentives of self-interested politicians. It has been observed that fiscal policy reflects any incentive present in political institutions. In this paper we summarize a recent line...

Observed fiscal policy reflects the incentives embedded in political institutions. In this paper, we illustrate the effects of two general institutional features: separation of powers, which is common in Presidential-Congressional political systems, and legislative cohesion, which is typical of...