Interest Groups, Public Expenditure, and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation

Although many studies have dealt with the relationship between government expenditure and economic growth, none has been able to pinpoint its exact nature. Recently, however, new efforts have been made to find new factors or variables that moderate the relationship. This paper investigates a new moderating variable, interest group activity, as suggested by Kim (forthcoming). According to cross-country data analysis, the interaction term between government expenditure and interest group activity plays a significant role. Government expenditure has been estimated to have a positive effect on economic growth when interest groups are inactive, and a negative impact on growth when interest groups are active.