The Power of the Purse: Cabinet Volatility and Budgetary Spending

There is a well-documented literature looking at the role of cabinets in the formation of governments in presidential regimes and how cabinet volatility affects policy making. There is also a significant literature looking at how spending ministers contribute (or not) to budgetary spending and fiscal discipline. Yet, only few studies have offered a systematic analysis of the relationship between these two, namely, whether budgetary allocations may affect cabinet volatility or whether different spending ministers may secure longer terms in office through increased budgetary allocations. This paper offers to empirically test this relationship in the case of Ecuador. For this purpose, we propose to combine two datasets on cabinet volatility and ministerial budgetary allocations. The paper will offer theoretical and empirical implications for testing this relationship in comparative perspective.