Variable definition
| Dependent variables | ||
| Expenditure | The share of total government expenditure to GDP | Government Finance Statistics (GFS) – IMF |
| Economic affairs | The ratio of government spending on economic affairs to GDP | GFS |
| Public services | The ratio of government spending on public services to GDP | GFS |
| Social welfare | The ratio of government spending on social welfare to GDP. Social welfare is the sum of government spending on health, education and social protection | GFS |
| Main independent variables | ||
| Pre-election | The dummy variable which equals 1 for the year before an election and 0 otherwise | Database of Political Institutions (DPI) |
| Election | The dummy variable which equals 1 for election years and 0 otherwise | DPI |
| Post-election | The dummy variable which equals 1 for the year after an election and 0 otherwise | DPI |
| Control variables | ||
| Population growth | The annual growth rate of the total population in a country | World Development Indicators (WDI) |
| Median age | The median age of the entire population of a country | United Nations |
| GDP growth | The annual GDP growth rate of a country | WDI |
| Unemployment rate | The unemployment rate of a country | WDI |
| Inflation | The annual inflation rate, which is based on the consumer price index | WDI |
| Government debt | The ratio of general government debt to GDP. In the case that data for general government debt are missing, we use central government debt | WDI |
| Tax revenue | The index measures the overall level of economic freedom with higher values indicating greater levels of freedom | WDI |
| Corruption control | The index measures the level of control of corruption in a country. The index varies between −2.5 and 2.5, with higher values indicating stronger control of corruption | World Governance Indicators |
| Left-wing | The dummy variable which equals 1 if the incumbent government is characterized as left-wing and 0 otherwise | DPI |
| Democracy | The index (polity2) measures overall level of democracy. The index varies between −10 (hereditary monarchy) and 10 (consolidated democracy), with higher values indicating higher levels of democracy | POLITY IV |
| Expenditure | The share of total government expenditure to GDP | Government Finance Statistics (GFS) – IMF |
| Economic affairs | The ratio of government spending on economic affairs to GDP | GFS |
| Public services | The ratio of government spending on public services to GDP | GFS |
| Social welfare | The ratio of government spending on social welfare to GDP. Social welfare is the sum of government spending on health, education and social protection | GFS |
| Pre-election | The dummy variable which equals 1 for the year before an election and 0 otherwise | Database of Political Institutions (DPI) |
| Election | The dummy variable which equals 1 for election years and 0 otherwise | DPI |
| Post-election | The dummy variable which equals 1 for the year after an election and 0 otherwise | DPI |
| Population growth | The annual growth rate of the total population in a country | World Development Indicators (WDI) |
| Median age | The median age of the entire population of a country | United Nations |
| GDP growth | The annual GDP growth rate of a country | WDI |
| Unemployment rate | The unemployment rate of a country | WDI |
| Inflation | The annual inflation rate, which is based on the consumer price index | WDI |
| Government debt | The ratio of general government debt to GDP. In the case that data for general government debt are missing, we use central government debt | WDI |
| Tax revenue | The index measures the overall level of economic freedom with higher values indicating greater levels of freedom | WDI |
| Corruption control | The index measures the level of control of corruption in a country. The index varies between −2.5 and 2.5, with higher values indicating stronger control of corruption | World Governance Indicators |
| Left-wing | The dummy variable which equals 1 if the incumbent government is characterized as left-wing and 0 otherwise | DPI |
| Democracy | The index (polity2) measures overall level of democracy. The index varies between −10 (hereditary monarchy) and 10 (consolidated democracy), with higher values indicating higher levels of democracy | POLITY IV |
Source(s): Authors' own work
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