Rules and Restraint: Government Spending and the Design of Institutions (American Politics and Political Economy Series)

219 Pages·2007·1.36 MB·English

by  David M. Primo

Rules and Restraint
Rules
g o v e r n m e n t s p e n d i n g
and Restraint
a n d t h e d e s i g n o f i n s t i t u t i o n s
David M. Primo
the university of chicago press
chicago & london
david m. primois assistant professor in the Department of Political
Science at the University of Rochester. He is the coauthor of
The Plane Truth: Airline Crashes, the Media, and Transportation Policy.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
©2007 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2007
Printed in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-68259-4 (cloth)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-68260-0 (paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-68259-5 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-68260-9 (paper)
libraryof congress cataloging-in-publication data
Primo, David M.
Rules and restraint : government spending and the design of
institutions / David M. Primo.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-68259-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-68259-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-68260-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-68260-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Finance, Public—United States. 2. Budget—United
States. I. Title.
hj257 .3.p75 2007
352.4'973—dc22
2007009845
oThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.
For my wife, Neeta
and my parents, Mauro and Elda
american politics and political economy,
a series edited by Benjamin I. Page
contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
1:Introduction 1
2:Rule Design and Enforcement 23
3:External Enforcement 42
4:Internal Enforcement 61
5:The U.S. States 82
6:The Federal Government 105
7:Conclusion 123
Appendix A. Technical Material for Chapter 3 141
Appendix B. Technical Material for Chapter 4 150
Appendix C. Technical Material for Chapter 5 156
Appendix D. Technical Material for Chapter 6 158
Notes 161
References 175
Index 189

illustrations
figures
1.1 Government spending, 1948–2004 2
1.2 Per capita spending, 1948–2004 2
1.3 Spending as a percentage of GDP, 1948–2004 3
2.1 Prisoner’s Dilemma 26
3.1 Extensive form, baseline model 49
3.2 Extensive form, model with spending limit 52
4.1 Extensive form, closed rule model 67
4.2 Extensive form, open rule model 68
4.3 Open and closed rule model comparison, part 1 73
4.4 Open and closed rule model comparison, part 2 74
4.5 Open and closed rule model comparison, part 3 75
4.6 Extensive form, enforcement model 77
4.7 Net benefits, open rule vs. closed rule with spending limit 78
4.8 Implementation of the spending limit 79
6.1 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings and deficit reduction 112
6.2 Proposed Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
as passed by the House (U.S. House 1995) 117
tables
4.1 Comparison of open and closed rule results 72
5.1 Summary statistics 90
5.2 Data sources 91
5.3 Spending in the U.S. states, regression results 94
d.1 Spending patterns under the 90 percent rule 159