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Political Representation and Municipal Spending: an RD-IV approach

Andersson Stridh, Jack LU (2025) NEKN01 20251
Department of Economics
Abstract
This thesis examines whether ideological shifts in Swedish municipal councils affect local taxation and spending. Using close elections from 1998 to 2018 and a left-right index based on party seat shares and economic positions, it applies a multi-score regression discontinuity design with instrumental variables. The study finds that while tax rates and core welfare spending are unaffected, a rightward shift in municipal council composition significantly reduces per-capita cultural spending. The results suggest that ideological effects are muted in high-salience areas but visible in discretionary spending.
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author
Andersson Stridh, Jack LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKN01 20251
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Political Economy, Municipal Finance, Regression Discontinuity, Instrumental Variables, Close-election RD
language
English
id
9205768
date added to LUP
2025-09-12 09:58:12
date last changed
2025-09-12 09:58:12
@misc{9205768,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines whether ideological shifts in Swedish municipal councils affect local taxation and spending. Using close elections from 1998 to 2018 and a left-right index based on party seat shares and economic positions, it applies a multi-score regression discontinuity design with instrumental variables. The study finds that while tax rates and core welfare spending are unaffected, a rightward shift in municipal council composition significantly reduces per-capita cultural spending. The results suggest that ideological effects are muted in high-salience areas but visible in discretionary spending.}},
  author       = {{Andersson Stridh, Jack}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Political Representation and Municipal Spending: an RD-IV approach}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}