Protests and Fiscal Policy in Argentina (2006-2019)
Keywords:
protests, fiscal policy, transfers, internet, ArgentinaAbstract
In this paper we respond to the question of whether protests constitute an effective mechanism to induce changes in fiscal policy in the case of a developing and federal country ?Argentina?. The identification strategy consists of an instrumental variable approach ?which makes it possible to overcome the frequent concerns about reverse causality?, based on the expansion of Internet access. The results indicate that a higher frequency of protests generates an increase in discretionary transfers from the national government to the provinces with protests. This does not translate into an improvement in the economic result or a reduction in the tax collection of those provinces. Thus, protests appear as an effective mechanism to induce changes in fiscal policy via transfers.
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