Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/70262 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 4132
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We study the consequences of franchise extension and ballot reform for the size of government in Western Europe between 1820 and 1913. We find that franchise extension exhibits a U-shaped association with revenue per capita and a positive association with spending per capita. Instrumental variables estimates, however, suggest that the U-shaped relationship may be non-causal and our fixed effects estimates point to substantial cross-country heterogeneity. Further, we find that the secret ballot did not matter for tax revenues per capita but might have expanded the size of government relative to GDP.
Subjects: 
suffrage
threat of revolution
taxation
size of government
JEL: 
D70
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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