How Effective is the Power to Veto? Evidence from the Gubernatorial Line Item Veto

34 Pages Posted: 2 Aug 2014

See all articles by Joseph McCormack

Joseph McCormack

George Washington University - Department of Economics

Yaniv Reingewertz

University of Haifa - Department of Political Science

Date Written: July 31, 2014

Abstract

How effective is the gubernatorial line item veto power? Many questions remain on how this tool is, and may be, used in different political scenarios and whether or not it has an effect on state budgets and fiscal balances. The purpose of this paper is to examine these questions. We use a rich disaggregated dataset to test the effect of the gubernatorial line item veto on state budgets. We control for political attributes such as the political affiliation of the governor and legislature, minority status of the governor and the ability of the legislature to override a line item veto. Our results suggest that line item veto power has no effect on spending, revenue or fiscal balance.

Keywords: Veto power, US states, Governors

JEL Classification: D78, E62, H72

Suggested Citation

McCormack, Joseph and Reingewertz, Yaniv, How Effective is the Power to Veto? Evidence from the Gubernatorial Line Item Veto (July 31, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2474760 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2474760

Joseph McCormack

George Washington University - Department of Economics ( email )

Monroe Hall, Suite 340
2115 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
United States

Yaniv Reingewertz (Contact Author)

University of Haifa - Department of Political Science ( email )

Haifa
Israel

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