Voting with your wallet? Municipal budget policy and election results

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 29;14(8):e0221619. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221619. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

In this research letter, we examine the impact of municipal budget policy on the percentage of votes for the incumbent majority parties in subsequent elections. We contribute to the academic literature by examining the combined influence of taxes, expenditures and debt. Based on data for Flanders (Belgium) between 1994 and 2012, we find no significant association between these budget variables and the actual election results.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Budgets*
  • Humans
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Policy*
  • Politics*
  • Regression Analysis

Grants and funding

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.