The Impact of Regime and Party Change on Central Government Expenditures in South Korea and Taiwan

The Impact of Regime and Party Change on Central Government Expenditures in South Korea and Taiwan

What impact does democratization have on the provision of central government services? A growing body of literature is beginning to reexamine the relationship between democratization, political party competition, and government expenditures. This paper analyzes these connections in South Korea and Taiwan from the early 1980s into the first years of the 21st century. The findings of this paper provide a tangible measure for the impact of regime change on the lives of the citizenry and also provide additional insight into one indicator of the low level of policy differentiation between ruling parties across cases. An examination of non defense related central government spending reveals that democracy does correlate with changes in spending over time, but in different ways across cases. Ruling parties appear to matter as well, but defy expectations based on their inferred left-right programs.