Democratic Effects on Public Spending - A Study of the Post-Soviet Context

Abstract

The degree of democracy is an important factor determining a country’s welfare through the formation of policies and the government’s priorities. This study explores in a quantitative framework the effect of democracy on total public spending, public educational, public health care and public military spending in the Post-Soviet states with the aim to contribute with new input and understanding and to test whether previous findings hold for the Post-Soviet context. The quantitative results are then further tested in a case study on Belarus and the Kyrgyz Republic. In line with predictions a positive relationship between democracy and public spending is found in the region. The study shows no significant relationship between educational and health care spending and democracy. Contradicting previous research a positive relationship between democracy and military spending is found, where an increase in degree of democracy leads to higher military spending.