Political budget cycles at the municipal level in Slovakia: between structural dependence and electoral exhibitionism.

This paper discusses the strategic composition of Slovak municipalities' revenues and expenditures and the role of political budget cycles. We found that Slovak municipalities tend to have significantly higher capital revenues and capital expenditures in periods close to municipal elections. We also found strategic management of current expenditures and revenues depending on the time of municipal elections. We have controlled these estimations with several dimensions identified in the literature, from socio-economic variables to political characteristics of the incumbent mayors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]