Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/105084 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics No. 57-2014
Publisher: 
Philipps-University Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Marburg
Abstract: 
Employing data from a representative survey conducted in Germany, this paper examines public preferences for the size and composition of government expenditure. We focus on public attitudes toward taxes, public debt incurrence, and public spending in six different policy areas. Our findings suggest, first, that the current scope of government is supported by a majority of the German population. Second, we find that individual preferences for the composition of government spending differ along various dimensions. Specifically, personal economic well-being, economic literacy, confidence in politicians, political ideology, and time preference are significantly related to individual attitudes toward public spending, taxes, and debt. The magnitude of the effects is particularly large for time preference, economic knowledge, and party preference. Third, public preferences for public spending priorities are only marginally affected when considering a public budget constraint.
Subjects: 
Public spending
public preferences
public debt
taxes
survey
Germany.
JEL: 
E62
H11
H50
H63
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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