Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
We test the hypothesis that governments facing popular protest are more likely to use fiscal policy for re-election purposes, employing data of 65 democratic countries–both developed and developing–over the period 1975–2005. Using the number of anti-government demonstrations and general strikes in pre-election years as measures of popular protest, our results lend support to this hypothesis. The effect of protest on the manipulation of fiscal policy for re-election purposes is strongest in young democracies.