ABSTRACT

There is an ongoing debate about the determinants of municipal financial performance around the world, including Central America. This article fills a research gap using data from the 298 Honduran municipalities for 2002–2015. Partisanship theories are found to be the strongest explanatory factor, for leftist governments show greater total municipal spending. Political alignment also has a weak, positive impact on investment spending. The electoral legislation is working properly in Honduran municipalities, since the data reject an opportunistic political budget cycle. Furthermore, Honduran municipalities show diseconomies of scale, for higher population density means greater per capita expenditures. The economic level impacts positively on expenditure per capita, which confirms Wagner's Law. Regarding transfers, we find a strong flypaper effect. As a point for practitioners, the granting government should monitor that this extra spending is the one intended with the transfers.

摘要

关于世界各地（包括中美洲）市政财务绩效的决定因素，一直存在争议。本文利用 2002-2015 年洪都拉斯 298 个城市的数据填补了研究空白。党派理论被认为是最有力的解释因素，因为左翼政府显示出更大的市政总支出。政治一致性也对投资支出产生微弱的积极影响。洪都拉斯各市的选举立法运作良好，因为数据拒绝了机会主义的政治预算周期。此外，洪都拉斯城市表现出规模不经济，因为更高的人口密度意味着更高的人均支出。经济水平对人均支出产生积极影响，这证实了瓦格纳定律。关于转会，我们发现飞纸效果。作为从业者的一个观点，拨款政府应监控这笔额外支出是否用于转移支付。