Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/117965 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
Nota di Lavoro No. 81.2004
Publisher: 
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Milano
Abstract: 
In this paper we present a structural approach to the study of government formation in multi-party parliamentary democracies. The approach is based on the estimation of a stochastic bargaining model which we use to investigate the effects of specific institutional features of parliamentary democracy on the formation and stability of coalition governments. We then apply our methodology to estimate the effects of governmental bicameralism. Our main findings are that eliminating bicameralism does not affect government durability, but does have a significant effect on the composition of governments leading to smaller coalitions. These results are due to an equilibrium replacement effect: removing bicameralism affects the relative durability of coalitions of different sizes which in turn induces changes in the coalitions that are chosen in equilibrium.
Subjects: 
Political stability
Government formation
Government dissolution
Bicameralism
Comparative constitutional design
JEL: 
D72
H19
C73
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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