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Abstract This article analyses the incidence of politically driven cycles on the functional components and sub-components of government expenditures over a group of 18 European countries during the period 1990–2012. An LSDVC estimator is employed in the empirical analysis. The results provide evidence of political opportunism at aggregated and disaggregated levels of public expenditures. The expenditure components that have proved to be more related to that behaviour are public services, education, social protection and some sub-components of health expenditure, items that tend to generate outcomes that are more visible to voters. Some disaggregated evidence of partisan manipulation is also found. Highlights • This paper analyses the incidence of politically driven cycles on the functional components of government expenditures. • An LSDVC estimator is employed over a panel of 18 countries for the period 1990–2012. • The results point out to the presence of political opportunism at aggregated and disaggregated levels of public expenditures. • Spending in public services, health, education and social protection is increased in election years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of elections, partisan and political support effects on the dynamics of human development in a panel of 82 countries over the period 1980–2013. A Generalised Method of Moments(GMM) estimator is employed and the results point out to the presence of an electoral cycle in the growth rate of human development. Majority governments also influence it, but no evidence is found regarding partisan effects. The electoral cycles have proved to be stronger in non-OECD countries, in countries with less frequent elections, with lower levels of income and human development, in presidential and non-plurality systems and in proportional representation regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]