Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian States

We study how a fragmented political landscape affects fiscal policy and economic growth with a sample of 15 Indian States over the period 1980-2000. We measure state-level political fragmentation with an inverse Herfindahl index for party vote shares in the state legislature. Our results show that p...

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Main Authors: Yogesh Uppal, Thushyanthan Baskaran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Università Carlo Cattaneo LIUC 2024-01-01
Series:The European Journal of Comparative Economics
Online Access:https://ejce.liuc.it/articles/ejce021.pdf
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author Yogesh Uppal
Thushyanthan Baskaran
author_facet Yogesh Uppal
Thushyanthan Baskaran
author_sort Yogesh Uppal
collection DOAJ
description We study how a fragmented political landscape affects fiscal policy and economic growth with a sample of 15 Indian States over the period 1980-2000. We measure state-level political fragmentation with an inverse Herfindahl index for party vote shares in the state legislature. Our results show that political fragmentation distorts fiscal policy: it entails higher spending, lower revenues, and higher public debt. At the disaggregated level, political fragmentation leads to higher current and lower capital expenditures. These fiscal distortions, in turn, lower growth rates. We also find that informational issues play an important role in determining the effect of political fragmentation.
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spelling doaj-art-5f2e8d1f620d40b68251cd44e35931ae2024-11-29T14:45:06ZengUniversità Carlo Cattaneo LIUCThe European Journal of Comparative Economics1824-29792024-01-0120216119110.25428/1824-2979/02118242979Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian StatesYogesh UppalThushyanthan BaskaranWe study how a fragmented political landscape affects fiscal policy and economic growth with a sample of 15 Indian States over the period 1980-2000. We measure state-level political fragmentation with an inverse Herfindahl index for party vote shares in the state legislature. Our results show that political fragmentation distorts fiscal policy: it entails higher spending, lower revenues, and higher public debt. At the disaggregated level, political fragmentation leads to higher current and lower capital expenditures. These fiscal distortions, in turn, lower growth rates. We also find that informational issues play an important role in determining the effect of political fragmentation.https://ejce.liuc.it/articles/ejce021.pdf
spellingShingle Yogesh Uppal
Thushyanthan Baskaran
Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian States
The European Journal of Comparative Economics
title Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian States
title_full Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian States
title_fullStr Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian States
title_full_unstemmed Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian States
title_short Political fragmentation, fiscal policy and economic growth in Indian States
title_sort political fragmentation fiscal policy and economic growth in indian states
url https://ejce.liuc.it/articles/ejce021.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT yogeshuppal politicalfragmentationfiscalpolicyandeconomicgrowthinindianstates
AT thushyanthanbaskaran politicalfragmentationfiscalpolicyandeconomicgrowthinindianstates