Political Parties Do Matter in US Cities. for Their Unfunded Pensions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dippel, Christian
• 署名单位: Western University (University of Western Ontario)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20190480
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 33-54
• 关键词: mayoral partisanship; state; ACCOUNTABILITY; unionism; ECONOMY; demands; sector; IMPACT; audits

摘要

This paper studies public sector pension obligations, the biggest fiscal challenge currently facing many US cities. Employing a regression discontinuity design around close elections, benefit payments out of a city's public sector pensions are shown to grow faster under Democratic party mayors, while contributions into the pensions do not. Previous research showed that parties do not matter for a wide range of cities' fiscal expenditures and explained this with voters imposing fiscal discipline. This paper replicates previous results but shows that parties can matter for shrouded expenditure types that voters do not pay attention to, especially if they benefit well-organized interest groups.