Fiscal Effects of the Voter Initiative: Evidence from the Last 30 Years

摘要: In 23 American states, citizens can initiate and approve laws by popular vote; in the other 27 be proposed only elected representatives. This paper compares fiscal behavior of state local governments over last 30 years under these two institutional arrangements. The main finding is that spending significantly lower, on order 4 percent, states with voter initiatives than pure representative states. It also found higher lower initiative On revenue side, rely less broad-based taxes more charges tied to services. Taken together, evidence indicates leads a reduction overall size government sector suggests it causes decline level redistributional activity.