Abstract

VEIGA, Linda Gonçalves  and  VEIGA, Francisco José. Electoralism in Portuguese town and city councils . Anál. Social [online]. 2005, n.177, pp.865-889. ISSN 0003-2573.

This article tests for the existence of political and economic cycles in city councils in contintental Portugal from 1979 to 2001. The empirical results clearly show that local government officials behave in an electoralist manner in election years local authorities increase their deficits and add to municipal expenditure, taking on more employees. In terms of expenditure, the highest increases take place under headings which are highly visible to the electorate, such as Viaducts, roads and highways and associated works and Rural transport. To the extent that local government officials’ electoralism produces inefficiencies in terms of resource allocation, we believe there is a good case to be made for the imposition of rules limiting the discretionary management powers of local authority treasury departments.

Keywords : Eleições autárquicas; Política económica local; Gestão autárquica; Portugal; Finanças locais; Poder local; Política económica; Autarquias.

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