. 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 …

during the 1985 - 2001 period. We find that in election years public expenditures increase, but revenues also do - a result … influence of party alignment between governors and president. Public expenditures in election years increase in aligned …