Congress and Budget Policy in Jalisco, 1990-2014

Subnational studies in Mexico have pointed out the huge power of governors and the weakness of local Congresses in the design of budget policy. However, it is important to provide more evidence on the Congresses’s performance to attain a better understanding of this situation. Based on a case study of the Mexican state of Jalisco, the purposes of this paper are: a) to present empirical evidence on the exercise of budgetary functions; b) to explore whether the government status has an effect on the Congress behavior and its relationship with the Executive branch; and c) to establish the impact of ammendments on budget policies.