Political reputation models feature forward-looking, rational voters who re-elect incumbents based on their estimate of an incumbent's ability level. Fiscal policy is one of the ways an incumbent establishes a reputation and thereby signals this ability level to voters. The reputation-building...

The "Law of 1/n" postulates a positive relationship between the number of democratically elected representative districts and government spending. Strong support for this relationship exists in legislatures in the United States (at both the state and national level) and across countries. Few...