The effects of natural resource revenues on municipal finance

Abstract

We investigate how revenues from taxing hydropower production affect local fiscal policy with data for municipalities in Switzerland in 1987–2015. Our instrumental variable approach uses exogenous variation in these revenues by combining the municipality-specific hydropower potential with the varying federally mandated ceiling on taxation of hydropower production. We find negative effects on tax rates and tax revenues, but insignificant spending effects. These results provide fresh evidence on how local authorities use exogenous revenues and on the flypaper effect for a setting with strong local fiscal autonomy and participatory institutions.