Tangling with the Troika: ‘domestic ownership’ as political and administrative engagement in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal

Hardiman, Niamh; Spanou, Calliope; Araújo, Joaquim Filipe; MacCárthaigh, Muiris

doi:10.1080/14719037.2019.1618385

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Our empirical findings reinforce the conclusions of several existing studies about the relevance of supra-national pressures and the relevance of EU-level fiscal rules (and external pressure from the EU toward fiscal discipline) in shaping budgeting practices in the member states (e.g. Ghin et al, 2018;Hardiman et al, 2019;Kristiansen, 2018;Raudla and Douglas, 2021). Furthermore, our cases demonstrate that governments' attempts to comply with supranational rules have led to budget execution practices that work against the goals of efficiency (like the return of the December fever in Austria) or the democratic legitimacy (like the re-introduction of frozen appropriations in Portugal).…”

Section: Concluding Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The adjustment program required countries that had received loans to undertake fiscal consolidation and structural reforms in order to restore fiscal sustainability (for more details, see, e.g. Hardiman et al, 2019). All of the reforms of the budget execution phase in Portugal entailed increased control of the MoF in the budget execution process.…”

Section: Portugalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Austerity and budget execution: control versus flexibility

Raudla

Douglas

2021

JPBAFM

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PurposeHow does the era of austerity affect flexibility and control in budget implementation? The execution phase of the budget has remained underexplored in the budgeting literature. Theoretically, a crisis and austerity period may trigger changes in budget execution in one of two key directions: either toward greater control or greater flexibility. This paper seeks to uncover which outcome is more likely.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted elite interviews of key officials involved in the budget execution phases in two European countries: Portugal and Austria.FindingsThe cases demonstrate that the experience of a fiscal crisis and period of austerity tend to lead to greater control and constrained flexibility in budget execution.Originality/valueThe execution phase of the budget process has remained underexplored in the public budgeting literature, and there has been only limited discussion on how the experience of austerity affects it. This empirical study of Portugal and Austria helps to shed light on that question.

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Section: Concluding Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Portugalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Austerity and budget execution: control versus flexibility

Raudla

Douglas

2021

JPBAFM

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“…The program is notorious for having introduced unpopular policies to control public sector finances. Moreover, the period is marked by two nationwide elections—the municipal elections of 2013 and the parliamentary elections in 2014—that lead to a shift in the political landscape from center-right to center-left [ 64 – 66 ]. Arguably, such change could have contributed to a shift in the philosophy of public investments.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling behavior of public procurement activity

et al. 2021

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Public procurement refers to the purchase by public sector entities—such as government departments or local authorities—of Services, Goods, or Works. It accounts for a significant share of OECD countries’ expenditures. However, while governments are expected to execute them as efficiently as possible, there is a lack of methodologies for an adequate comparison of procurement activity between institutions at different scales, which represents a challenge for policymakers and academics. Here, we propose using methods borrowed from urban scaling laws literature to study public procurement activity among 278 Portuguese municipalities between 2011 and 2018. We find that public procurement expenditure scales sublinearly with population size, indicating an economy of scale for public spending as cities increase their population size. Moreover, when looking at the municipal Scale-Adjusted Indicators (the deviations from the scaling law) by contract categories—Works, Goods, and Services—we are able to identify a richer local characterisation of municipalities based on the similarity of procurement activity. These results make up a framework for quantitatively studying local public expenditure by enabling policymakers a more appropriate foundation for comparative analysis.

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“…Indeed, the Irish Labour party had long been placed close to the centre of the spectrum (Mair, 1992) and the incoming government generally accepted the terms of the Troika programme. However, Labour did insist on maintaining primary social welfare rates, restoring the level of the minimum wage and securing wage bargaining rights (Hardiman et al, 2019), demonstrating a certain left-leaning orientation.…”

Section: Political Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond financial constraints: The politics of Irish health system reform in the aftermath of the great recession

Devitt

2022

Soc Policy Adm

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This article investigates the main factors influencing the success of welfare reforms in the context of crises. It focuses on the healthcare reform plan proposed in Ireland in the aftermath of the Great Recession, which aimed at the establishment of a universal health system but was only very partially implemented. As the plan would have required an increase in public expenditure, it may be expected that cost concerns explain the overall reform outcome in the context of an economic crisis. However, analysis of the process leading to the abandonment of a central element of the plan and the partial introduction of another component shows that, apart from financial concerns, the outcome is explained by three politicoinstitutional factors: the political orientation of the parties in government; electoral (dis)incentives in pursuing different elements of the reform; and the extent of institutional change associated with them.

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Tangling with the Troika: ‘domestic ownership’ as political and administrative engagement in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal

Cited by 13 publications

References 60 publications

Austerity and budget execution: control versus flexibility

Austerity and budget execution: control versus flexibility

Scaling behavior of public procurement activity

Beyond financial constraints: The politics of Irish health system reform in the aftermath of the great recession

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