02084cas a2200253 a 4500 AALejournalIMF009136 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781451850680 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Alesina, Alberto. The Political Economy of Budget Deficits / Alberto Alesina, Roberto Perotti. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 1994. 1 online resource (48 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This paper provides a critical survey of the literature on politico-institutional determinants of the government budget. We organize our discussion around two questions: Why did certain OECD countries, but not others, accumulate large public debts? Why did these fiscal imbalances appear in the last 20 years rather than before? We begin by discussing the 'tax smoothing' model and conclude that this approach alone cannot provide complete answers to these questions. We will then proceed to a discussion of political economy models, which we organize in six groups: (i) models based upon opportunistic policymakers and naive voters with 'fiscal illusion;' (ii) models of intergenerational redistributions; (iii) models of debt as a strategic variable, linking the current government with the next one; (iv) models of coalition governments; (v) models of geographically dispersed interests; and (vi) models emphasizing the effects of budgetary institutions. We conclude by briefly discussing policy implications. Mode of access: Internet Perotti, Roberto. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 1994/085 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/1994/085/001.1994.issue-085-en.xml IMF e-Library