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Transparency and Manipulation of Public Accounts
Author(s) -
GAVAZZA ALESSANDRO,
LIZZERI ALESSANDRO
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of public economic theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.809
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1467-9779
pISSN - 1097-3923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9779.2011.01502.x
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , economics , incentive , public spending , redistribution (election) , microeconomics , welfare , public economics , monetary economics , market economy , politics , law , political science
We study the policy choices of an incumbent politician when voters imperfectly observe aggregate spending and the incumbent’s ability. We show that total spending is decreasing in the transparency of spending, but increasing in the transparency of the incumbent’s ability. The model further provides a possible explanation of the choice of inefficient tools of redistribution, and investigates the incentives for politicians to manipulate public accounts. We show that politicians may choose inefficient and manipulable tools, but that this choice has positive welfare consequences because it leads to a reduction in spending.