Shortsighted Spending

Spending symmetry

Campaign Spending Limits, Incumbent Spending, and Election Outcomes

We study the impact of campaign spending limits for candidates in Canadian federal elections. We first demonstrate that spending limits are binding mostly for incumbent candidates. We then use this information to produce endogeneity-corrected estimates for the impact of incumbent spending on electoral vote shares. Furthermore, we examine the impact of spending limits on broader measures of elec...

Spending by Singles

Meaghan Duetsch is an economist in the Branch of Information and Analysis, Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys, Bureau of Labor Statistics. MEAGHAN DUETSCH Do single women spend their money differently than single men do? If so, can their spending differences be attributed to differences in characteristics between the two groups? In addition, have the spending patterns of single men and si...

What Limits Social Spending?

The forces that are most likely to set the ultimate limits on social spending as a share of GDP are not those usually imagined. The deadweight costs of such spending, and the taxes behind them, fail to show the predicted upward spiral. The experience of 1960–1981 shows a major role for shifts in relative age-group sizes, but with an approaching sunset to the effect of aging on social-spending p...

Making health spending work.

Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) are usually promoted as a demand-management tool that gives consumers incentives to economize on medical expenses. "Making Health Spending Work" takes the concept one step further and shows how MSAs can be used to design a publicly funded system that incorporates market dynamics. MSAs can bring efficiency-enhancing incentives to the supply side, creating consumer...