Participatory budgeting and municipal spending: a matching methods analysis for causal inference

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/1980-5330/ea216901

Keywords:

participatory budgeting, matching methods, panel data

Abstract

The purpose is to evaluate the impact of participatory budgeting (PB) on the composition of public spending in Brazilian municipalities. We employ the matching methods for causal inference with panel data, which allows us to deal with issues previously ignored. First, the fact that there is high variability in the timing of treatment between municipalities. Second, the fact that several municipalities abandon or resume the PB at some point. Our results indicate that the adoption of the PB had the effect of redirecting a portion of public spending to the categories of “Health and Sanitation” and “Housing and Urban Planning”.

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Author Biographies

  • Renato Potter Martins Ferreira, University of São Paulo

    Universidade de São Paulo. E-mail: rpmf95@hotmail.com

  • Fabiana Fontes Rocha, University of São Paulo

    Universidade de São Paulo. E-mail: frocha@usp.br

    ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9314-0023

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Published

2025-12-01

Issue

Section

Papers

How to Cite

Ferreira, R. P. M., & Rocha, F. F. (2025). Participatory budgeting and municipal spending: a matching methods analysis for causal inference. Economia Aplicada, 29(4), 623-650. https://doi.org/10.11606/1980-5330/ea216901