This dissertation is a collection of four articles focused on the seeking of rents, which are rewards and prizes not earned or not consistent with competitive market returns. Each article explores a different aspect of the topic, focusing on the consequences, determinants or measurement of...

This paper aims to shed additional light on the existence of opportunistic and partisan political-business cycles in the Brazilian economy over the 1996-2016 period. To that end, it relies on two different approaches: (I) an Oaxaca model in the spirit of Blinder and Watson (2016); and (II) a...

We tested the Political Business Cycle theory in Sub-Sahara Africa. To provide an empirical explanation for this nexus, this paper used unbalanced panel data from thirty-six (36) Sub-Saharan African countries between 1990 and 2018. The system Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) developed by...

Building on the well-established relationship between economic dynamics and political processes, we focus on the most important element of the political process, namely, general (or national) elections, and look into their effects on public finance and total economic output. In this vein, the...

This study empirically analyzes the alleged existence of political budget cycles in Indonesian local governments. Using panel data, this quantitative study concentrates on capital expenditures, grant expenditures, and social assistance expenditures in the election year and the year before the...

This paper uses the event-study methodology to investigate the effect of the Presidential Turkish elections in 2023 on Borsa Istanbul returns. The data used in this study cover the period from 13 June 2022, through 7 June 2023. We employ a market model to study the effect of two election rounds...

Using a regression discontinuity design and primary elections to select Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) mayoral candidates as a case study, this paper investigates the causal link between primary elections and electoral outcomes. The results suggest that selecting the PSOE’s mayoral candidate...

Die Arbeit untersucht, inwiefern es im Zuge fortschreitender Öffnung der Güter- und Faktormärkte für nationale Regierungen möglich ist bzw. möglich bleibt, der Wirtschaftspolitik einen ideologisch motivierten Stempel aufzudrücken. Dafür wird zunächst der Begriff der Ideologie für das...

This paper analyses financial inclusion in Africa focusing on the role of political business cycles and pricing behaviour of banks. We employ a sample of 330 banks operating in 29 African countries to test for two related hypotheses. Panel fixed and random effects were estimated for the period...