Politics through the Lens of Economics

Lecture 13: Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems

Masayuki Kudamatsu

18 January, 2017

Discussion time

Can the legislative bargaining model explain

Japan's minimum wage policy?

Minimum wage across Japanese prefectures in 2015

Basic economics of minimum wage

Wage

# of employees

Supply

Demand

Equilibrium

Equilibrium

Basic economics of minimum wage

Wage

# of employees

Supply

Demand

Equilibrium

Equilibrium

Minimum wage

Minimum wage does not have any impact

Basic economics of minimum wage

Wage

# of employees

Supply

Demand

Equilibrium

Minimum wage

Minimum wage reduces employment

Motivation: Forms of Government

Parliamentary system

Presidential system

Two major forms of democracy

Major difference: how the chief executive is elected

But the legislative policy-making process differs, too

Presidential system

Different congressional committees hold proposal power over different policy issues

Separation of Power

=

Taxation

Spending

Parliamentary system

Ruling party legislators propose almost all bills

A disagreement within ruling party members leads to a government crisis (vote of no confidence)

June 1993: Vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Miyazawa was approved as some LDP members voted in favour

Legislative cohesion

=

Today's Road Map

Model of Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems

Fiscal Policies in Presidential System

Fiscal Policies in Parliamentary System

Evidence on Size of Government

Region 1

Region 2

Region 3

Legislator 1

Legislator 2

Legislator 3

A country of 3 regions, each represented by one legislator

Model ingredient #1: Legislators

Amount of tax to be collected

(tax burden is equally shared by 3 regions)

Model ingredient #2: Policies

Amount of

public goods

to be provided

Transfer

to

Region 1

Transfer

to

Region 2

Transfer

to

Region 3

No budget deficit allowed (for simplicity)

Model ingredient #3: Legislators' objective

Assume each legislator perfectly represent their region's citizens

(as in the citizen-candidate model)

Each legislator prefers:

Less tax

More public goods

More transfer to their own region

Doesn't care about:

Transfer to other regions

Presidential system: separation of power

Legislator 1 proposes tax

Legislator 2 proposes spending allocation

Parliamentary system: no separation of power

Legislators 1 & 2 (ruling party members)

jointly propose tax and spending allocation

Model ingredient #4: Agenda setters

Presidential system: no legislative cohesion

Each bill requires a (potentially different) majority to pass

e.g. 1 & 2 approve tax and 2 & 3 approve spending

Parliamentary system: legislative cohesion

Ruling party legislators can veto each other

i.e. 1 & 2 need to approve both tax and spending

Model ingredient #5: Winning coalition

Timing of Events in Presidential System

1

2

4

5

Legislator 1 proposes tax

Legislators vote on the tax proposal

Legislator 2 proposes spending allocation

Legislators vote on the spending proposal

If rejected, the default tax rate is implemented

If rejected, the default allocation is implemented

3

Legislators 1 & 3 submit a request on transfer to their region

Timing of Events in Parliamentary Systems

Legislators 1 & 2 negotiate tax & spending

If the agreement is reached,

   The policies are proposed to the legislature

   and approved by majority voting

If either disagrees,

   The vote of no confidence is approved

   and the government collapses.

   The default policy is implemented

1

2a

2b

(The ruling party forms a majority in parliament)

Today's Road Map

Model of Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems

Fiscal Policies in Presidential System

Fiscal Policies in Parliamentary System

Evidence on Size of Government

Timing of Events in Presidential System

1

2

4

5

Legislator 1 proposes tax

Legislators vote on the tax proposal

Legislator 2 proposes spending allocation

Legislators vote on the spending proposal

If rejected, the default tax rate is implemented

If rejected, the default allocation is implemented

3

Legislators 1 & 3 submit a request on transfer to their region

Transfer to non-proposers' regions

Given the requests of legislators 1 & 3

Legislator 2 approves the one whose request is smaller

By majority voting, only 1 more yes vote is needed

Expecting this, legislators 1 & 3 compete for the lower request

They both end up requesting zero transfer

cf. Bertrand competition

Consider two gas stations next to each other

They compete for drivers by offering cheaper gasoline

This price competition drives down the price

to the cost of selling gasoline (whole sale price + wage + rent etc.)

For a consumer price to be low,

two suppliers are enough (unless they collude)

Boeing and Airbus in aircraft market

Microsoft and Apple in OS market

Public good vs transfer to proposer's region

Legislator 2 maximizes his region's benefit

Transfer

Public goods

Tax revenue 

Extra benefit from transfer

Extra benefit from public goods

Legislator 2 maximizes his region's benefit

Transfer

Public goods

Tax revenue 

Extra benefit from transfer

Extra benefit from public goods

Optimal allocation

Public good vs transfer to proposer's region

Larger tax revenue will increase transfer, not public goods

Transfer

Public goods

Tax revenue 

Extra benefit from transfer

Extra benefit from public goods

Optimal allocation

Timing of Events in Presidential System

1

2

4

5

Legislator 1 proposes tax

Legislators vote on the tax proposal

Legislator 2 proposes spending allocation

Legislators vote on the spending proposal

If rejected, the default tax rate is implemented

If rejected, the default allocation is implemented

3

Legislators 1 & 3 submit a request on transfer to their region

Tax revenue

Legislator 1 expects 2 to transfer zero to his region

Every additional tax revenue will be spent on transfer to 2's region

Collect tax just enough to finance public goods

And this proposal will be supported by both legislators

as long as it is better than the default policy

Transfer

Public goods

Tax revenue 

Extra benefit from transfer

Extra benefit from public goods

That is,

Policies chosen by the presidential system

Public goods

Tax revenue

 & No transfer to any region

Today's Road Map

Model of Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems

Fiscal Policies in Presidential System

Fiscal Policies in Parliamentary System

Evidence on Size of Government

Transfer to opposition's region

No support is needed from the opposition to pass the bill

Transfer to region 3 = Zero

Public goods & Transfer to ruling party's regions

Legislators 1 & 2 jointly maximize their benefits

Allocation of the joint benefit depends on their bargaining power

We're interested in the size of government

So we assume legislators 1 & 2 split the joint benefit in half

Maximizing the joint benefits

Transfer to regions 1 & 2

Public goods

Tax revenue 

Extra joint benefit from transfer

Extra joint benefit from public goods

Maximizing the joint benefits

Public goods

Tax revenue 

Optimal allocation

Transfer to regions 1 & 2

Extra joint benefit from public goods

Extra joint benefit from transfer

Tax revenue

Legislators 1 & 2 jointly maximize their benefits

Every additional tax revenue (from all regions including 3)

will be used as transfer to regions 1 & 2

Collect tax as much as possible

Public goods

Tax revenue

Optimal allocation

Transfer to regions 1 & 2

Extra joint benefit from public goods

Extra joint benefit from transfer

Summary 1: Public goods

Under-provided in presidential system

Public goods

Presidential 

system

Extra benefit from public goods

Parliamentary

system

Public goods

Summary 1: Public goods

Under-provided in presidential system

Extra joint benefit from public goods

Summary 2: Transfer

Opposition region exploited

Presidential system

Equal allocation (zero to all)

Parliamentary system

Summary 3: Tax revenue (= Total spending)

Public goods

Tax revenue

Presidential 

system

Tax revenue

Transfer to regions 1 & 2

Public goods

Parliamentary

system

Summary 3: Tax revenue (= Total spending)

Extra joint benefit from public goods

Extra joint benefit from transfer

Today's Road Map

Model of Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems

Fiscal Policies in Presidential System

Fiscal Policies in Parliamentary System

Evidence on Size of Government

Forms of government across the world in 1998

Source: Figure 4.1 of Persson and Tabellini (2003)

Presidential

Parliamentary

Not democratic

Caveat: same as for electoral rules (lecture 7)

Central govt spending as % of GDP

22.2%

33.3%

vs.

Presidential

Parliamentary

Source: Tables 1-2 of Persson and Tabellini (2004)

The difference is not driven by:

Electoral rules

Income per capita

Trade openness

Total population

% of population aged 16-54 / 65+

Years since democratization

Degree of democracy

Federal system

OECD member countries

Continents

Former colonizers

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Lobbying

This lecture is based on the following academic articles and books:

Persson, Torsten, Gérard Roland, and Guido Tabellini. 2000. “Comparative Politics and Public Finance.” Journal of Political Economy 108(6): 1121–61.

See also Chapter 10 of Persson, Torsten, and Guido Tabellini. 2000. Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Persson, Torsten, and Guido Tabellini. 2004. “Constitutional Rules and Fiscal Policy Outcomes.” American Economic Review 94(1): 25–45.

See also chapters 4 & 6 of Persson, Torsten, and Guido Enrico Tabellini. 2003. The Economic Effects of Constitutions. MIT Press.

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