01969cas a2200265 a 4500 AALejournalIMF015408 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781513583853 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Gupta, Sanjeev. Now or Later? : The Political Economy of Public Investment in Democracies / Sanjeev Gupta, Estelle Liu, Carlos Mulas-Granados. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2015. 1 online resource (38 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 explores the impact of political and institutional variables on public investment. Working with a sample of 80 presidential and parliamentary democracies between 1975 and 2012, we find that the rate of growth of public investment is higher at the beginning of electoral cycles and decelerates thereafter. The peak in public investment growth occurs between 21 and 25 months before elections. Cabinet ideology and government fragmentation influence the size of investment booms. More parties in government are associated with smaller increases in public investment while left-wing cabinets are associated with higher sustained increases in investment. Stronger institutions help attenuate the impact of elections on investment, but available information is insufficient to draw definitive conclusions. Mode of access: Internet Liu, Estelle. Mulas-Granados, Carlos. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2015/175 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2015/175/001.2015.issue-175-en.xml IMF e-Library