Abstract

How is the growth and the structure of government spending in Belgium related to the political composition of the successive governments? A distinction is made between center-right and center-left governments.We find that during 1960-83 bath the growth and the composition of government spending has been unrelated to these two types of governments. There is one major exception. Spending for social security increases significantly faster during periods of center-right governments, even after correction for business cycle variables. These results are interpreted in the framework of the median-voter model.