Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58887 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6456
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We estimate the effect of legislative term limits on various categories of state government spending using the most recent panel of 47 states from 1972 to 2005. Besides the usual economic, political, fiscal and demographic factors, we also control for the state tax and expenditure limitations. We find that term limits have a significant positive effect on total state government spending, but no significant positive effect on state education, health, transportation or welfare expenditures. This dichotomy in the estimates raises a very important and previously overlooked question: what budget category is responsible for higher state spending in term-limited states? Our analysis reveals that legislative term limits increase pork-barrel spending, which takes the form of higher transfers from state to local governments. This finding might also imply that legislative term limits lead to more fiscal decentralization.
Subjects: 
term limits
pork-barrel spending
rent-seeking
transportation
welfare
education
health
intergovernmental aid and transfers
JEL: 
H7
H3
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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