Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Carlos Scartascini
Author-X-Name-First: Carlos
Author-X-Name-Last: Scartascini
Author-Homepage: 
Author-Workplace-Name: Inter-American Development Bank
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.iadb.org/
Author-Name: Ernesto Stein
Author-X-Name-First: Ernesto
Author-X-Name-Last: Stein
Author-Workplace-Name: Inter-American Development Bank
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.iadb.org/
Author-Name: Mariano Tommasi
Author-X-Name-First: Mariano
Author-X-Name-Last: Tommasi
Author-Homepage: http://www.udesa.edu.ar/Faculty/Tommasi/index.htm
Author-Workplace-Name: Universidad de San Andrés
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.udesa.edu.ar/Propuesta-San-Andres/Unidades-Academicas/Economia
Title: Political institutions, intertemporal cooperation, and the quality of public policies
Abstract: While economists have tended to focus on specific public policies when developing
	recommendations, the achievement of welfare objectives might depend more on the quality
	of policies than their content. This paper develops several measures of the qualities of
	policies across countries, arguing that the quality of public policies depends on each polity’s
	ability to strike intertemporal transactions necessary to develop and sustain effective
	policies. The analytical framework developed here indicates that this ability depends on
	several characteristics of political institutions, such as congressional capabilities, judicial
	independence, and bureaucratic independence and professionalism. The empirical evidence
	presented supports this idea.


	An online appendix is available.
Classification-JEL: D72, D78, H10, H50, O10
Keywords: political institutions, public policies, government capabilities, intertemporal
cooperation, judicial independence, party institutionalization, congressional capabilities,
bureaucratic quality
Journal: Journal of Applied Economics
Pages: 1-32
Number: 1
Volume: 16
Year: 2013
Month: May
File-URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15140326/16/1
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Function: paper
File-Restriction: Online access is restricted to ScienceDirect
 subscribers.
File-URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15140326/16/1
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Function: Online Appendix
File-Restriction: Online access is restricted to ScienceDirect
 subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:cem:jaecon:v:16:y:2013:n:1:p:1-32