. We find that in election years with fiscal rules in place, public consumption is reduced by 1.6 percentage point of GDP … as compared to election years without these rules. This impact is equivalent to a reduction by a third of the volatility …

The political budget cycle (PBC) literature argues that governments expand deficits in election years. However, what … happens when an economic downturn is expected? Will the government allow the deficit to expand even further, or will it resort … opportunistic government behavior leads to smaller deficits, thereby responding procyclically to expected downturns. Panel data …

elections is 28.5% higher thanin the election year and this increase is mainly financed with new debt and sales of publicassets …