Ministerial Discretion and Redistribution in Parliamentary Democracies

Why are some governments more willing and able to redistribute than others? This article examines the effect of ministerial portfolio allocation on the level of redistribution in 27 parliamentary democracies from 1980 to 2010. We argue that the policy preferences of the welfare minister are a better predictor of redistribution than the ideological orientation of the cabinet as a whole, but that the extent of ministerial influence depends on the type of government. Ministerial influence over redistribution is greatest in coalition governments, which tend to adopt a contract approach to decision-making that sees individual ministers bargaining to reach a final fiscal settlement. By contrast, the influence of welfare ministers in single party majority governments is negligible because these governments tend to rely on a delegation approach, where the finance minister takes the lead in overall government budgeting and restricts the capacity of individual ministers to influence policy.