Bernardino Benito
Biographic Data
| ID | 1101033 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bernardino Benito |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bernardino |
| FAMILY NAME | Benito |
| SIGNATURE | BENITO B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universidad de Murcia |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2165-994X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 205 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Tourism Specialisation and Sustainable Development Performance in Spanish Cities
Tourism specialisation and sustainable development performance are key dimensions of urban sustainability debates. This study investigates the association between tourism specialisation and sustainable development performance, operationalised through the sustainable development goals (SDGs), in Spanish cities. Drawing on a cross‐sectional sample of 92 municipalities, the analysis employs an ordinary least squares regression model to assess the re…
Building Sustainable Cities: How Local Investment Drives SDG Performance
This study investigates the impact of local government financial structures on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the municipal level. Using data from 82 Spanish municipalities, we construct a composite index that measures progress across 16 goals, excluding SDG 14, which is not directly relevant at the local scale. Drawing on public capital theory and endogenous growth theory, we hypothesise that investment expe…
Silent Decline, Loud Indicators: Depopulation and the Measurement of Per Capita Fiscal Outcomes in Small Municipalities
This study examines the relationship between depopulation from 2015 to 2022 and changes in key per capita fiscal indicators in Spanish municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. Using a long-difference approach and disaggregating by population size, it analyzes associations between population decline and debt, nonfinancial expenditure, and nonfinancial revenue per capita, distinguishing between taxes and transfers. Results show that depop…
Understanding the Factors Influencing SDG Achievement Across Nations: A Comprehensive Study
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework for addressing global challenges and building a more equitable and sustainable future for all. Governments must coordinate to achieve the SDGs, addressing capacity and resource constraints, as well as political, institutional, and socio‐economic barriers. In this context, this study examines the determinants affecting the achievement of the SDGs in 83 countries from 2016 to 2021, using …
Governing for the Goals: How Governance Quality Shapes the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 remains a major global challenge, as progress continues to vary significantly across countries. While governance is widely recognized as a key enabler of sustainable development, few studies have systematically explored how its various dimensions affect SDG performance at the national level. This study addresses this gap by analyzing a balanced panel of 145 countries over the period 2016–…
Determinants of inefficiency in the provision of public parks and gardens services
The influence of local government transparency on the implementation of the sustainable development goals in municipalities
Purpose Nowadays, there is a strong public interest in promoting transparency to be informed about the actions of the public sector. At the same time, there has been a significant change in society’s perceptions and concerns about sustainable development, with a marked increase in attention to this area. In this context, our main objective is to investigate the impact of transparency practices in local government on the implementation of the Sust…
The relationship between culture and sustainable development goal compliance at the municipal level
This study assesses the role of culture in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Spanish public sector, focusing on the influence of local government cultural spending and education levels on SDG compliance in municipalities. Cultural spending, considered as a percentage of total non‐financial local government spending, municipal education levels and SDG implementation indicators from the Sustainable Development Solutions Netw…
The Influence of Transparency on Municipal Taxation: An Empirical Analysis
Local government officials are accountable to citizens, who increasingly demand more transparency given the amount of taxes they pay. This paper analyses the relationship between municipal tax revenues and transparency in Spain. Based on a sample of 141 Spanish municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants and applying least squares regression and instrumental variable analysis based on two-stage least squares regression, we find that the most…
Efficiency in environmental spending for sustainable development in Spanish cities
Urban environments are key to mitigating the effects of climate change, contributing to sustainability and improving people's lives. A significant part of the commitment to sustainable development is made by assuming the vital role played by local governments as the administrations closest to citizens and responsible for providing most of the essential services for the community. Therefore, knowing local governments’ levels of spending efficiency…
What factors make a municipality more involved in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals? Empirical evidence
According to the Institutional Theory, governments must respond to the climate and socio-economic challenges of the future by implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, in line with the Legitimacy Theory, governments need to adhere to the timetable of the 2030 Agenda to reduce social and economic disparities and avoid the serious environmental problems caused by current lifestyles. To achieve the SDGs, it is essential to eng…
The sustainable development goals: How does their implementation affect the financial sustainability of the largest Spanish municipalities
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a universal challenge to which all society must be committed. Local governments play a fundamental role as they are closest to citizens, with first‐hand knowledge of their needs and as providers of essential services. Municipal governments are involved in many aspects of SDG implementation. Thus, these governments should work towards their implementation, bearing in mind that involvement in these i…
Women's management in local government: The effects of substantive representation on welfare service efficiency
Spanish legislation on gender quotas in electoral candidate lists implies the effective incorporation of women into politics. This measure has created interest in the impact of this law on public service management (substantive representation), especially welfare services. This is due to the influence these services have on work‐life balance. Hence, the objective of this research is to determine the impact of women politicians on the efficiency o…
Factors influencing the structure of municipal taxation. Special reference to political corruption
There are few studies that relate tax revenues to corruption at the municipal level due to their great complexity and the difficulty in obtaining data. Continuing the research we started years ago, the main objective of this article is to analyse whether municipal political corruption influences some or all tax revenues. A panel database of all Spanish municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants is compiled for the period 2002–2013. The most…
Influence of managerial ability on the re-election of municipal political parties
This article investigates whether citizens reward those politicians who achieve better results in public management with re-election. It analyses the last three electoral processes in Spanish local governments, a period that runs from the beginning of the economic crisis (2007) to the last municipal elections (2019). For periods of financial crisis, the results indicate a higher probability of re-election for governments that have better managed …
Efficiency and sustainability in municipal social policies
Local governments play a crucial role in the fight for a more sustainable world and, therefore, in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they are the closest public entities to citizens and best know their needs. Local governments should be the driving force behind integrating the different areas of sustainability in their municipalities, especially in social services, which is the focus of this paper. However, these governments …
Measurement and determinants of efficiency in the municipal police service
Efficiency in the governance of the Covid-19 pandemic: Political and territorial factors
Transparency and efficient management in local governments
Impact of politicians’ salaries and their dedication regime on the efficiency of municipal public services
Cases of corruption, the financial and economic crisis, and citizens' growing interest in public affairs have contributed to the political changes that have taken place in Spain in recent years. In this scenario, in which new political actors appear, this research analyses whether politicians' remuneration, their dedication regime and several socio-political and economic variables have an impact on the efficiency of the main municipal services. T…
Political Budget Cycles in Public Revenues: Evidence From Fines
This article seeks to ascertain whether local governments make improper use of their discretion and use pecuniary sanctions for electoral purposes. To this end, a sample of Spanish municipalities with a population of more than 1,000 citizens during the period 2010 to 2016 has been used. Our results show that revenues from fines are influenced by the presence of elections. In particular, we find that local governments in an election year reduce th…
Determinants of efficiency improvement in the Spanish public lighting sector
“Corruption premium” on municipal borrowing cost: The case of Spanish Mayors
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of mayors’ corruption on the municipal interest rate set by lenders. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of a panel data for all the Spanish cities with population over 50,000 for 2002–2013 (130 municipalities). In line with previous literature and the structure of the panel data, the authors use a generalized method of moments equation to the main model and three robustness c…
The efficiency of public services in small municipalities: The case of drinking water supply
Do the illegal and legal rents of politicians affect municipal election outcomes? Empirical evidence
This paper aims to analyse whether illegal (corruption) and legal rent extraction (high politicians’ wages) affect electoral outcomes at municipal level. We use an initial sample of 145 Spanish municipalities over 50,000 for two electoral periods: 2004–2007 (before the crisis) and 2008–2011 (during the crisis). Our findings show that neither illegal nor legal rent extraction impact on re-election in non-crisis times. However, we observe that citi…
The Determinants of Local Government's Financial Transparency
This paper contributes to the scarce literature on government transparency by analysing the impact of political and socio-economic factors on municipal financial transparency. Our sample covers the 100 largest Spanish municipalities in 2008. Compulsory publicity and transparency are key to public management (rule-of-law theory). Our data show that Spanish municipalities are providing financial information beyond the legal requirements, thus excee…
Central Government Budget Practices and Transparency: An International Comparison
From an international perspective, a relationship between public sector transparency and better economic and social outcomes is something that is increasingly acknowledged. In terms of lack of transparency in budget reports both bureaucratic model and fiscal illusion theory have been argued as explanations. To assess transparency in budget practices we analyse to what extent a sample of 41 countries are meeting OECD requirements according to its …
Electoral Cycles And Local Government Debt Management
The literature provides both theories and empirical assessments that link national electoral cycles and opportunistic incumbents' behaviour. However, at the subnational level the literature is scarce. Using a panel of 238 Spanish municipalities over the period 1992–2005, this paper investigates for the first time in Spain whether electoral events contribute to shape municipal debt policies. We show that the electoral cycle influences the municipa…
Budget Transparency and Legislative Budgetary Oversight: An International Approach
This article attempts to evaluate the role the legislative budgetary oversight plays in enhancing budget transparency. This relationship has not been empirically tested so far. For a sample of 93 countries surveyed by International Budget Partnership in 2010, we show that, as expected, legislative budgetary oversight has a positive influence on budget transparency. Besides, the legal system, political competition, and economic level are also foun…
Factors influencing the structure of municipal taxation. Special reference to political corruption
There are few studies that relate tax revenues to corruption at the municipal level due to their great complexity and the difficulty in obtaining data. Continuing the research we started years ago, the main objective of this article is to analyse whether municipal political corruption influences some or all tax revenues. A panel database of all Spanish municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants is compiled for the period 2002–2013. The most…
Transparency and efficient management in local governments
Factors Explaining Public Participation in the Central Government Budget Process
This paper attempts to examine which factors explain public participation in the budget process in an international comparative approach. In particular, we investigate which socioeconomic, institutional, and political factors promote public engagement in the central government budget process. Using a sample of 93 countries, our results indicate that Internet penetration, population diversity, governmental financial situation, and budget transpare…
Determinants of Central Government Budget Disclosure: An International Comparative Analysis
This paper attempts to identify the socio-economic, political and institutional determinants of central government budget disclosure, both through the Internet and other media. It builds budget disclosure indicators based on the International Budget Partnership questionnaire for 93 countries. The findings show that Internet penetration, education level, relative central government size, budget surplus, administrative culture, political competitio…
Transparency and Political Budget Cycles at municipal level
We analyze the effect of municipal financial transparency on the magnitude of political budget cycles. Our sample covers the Spanish largest municipalities in the period 1999‐2009. While the impact of transparency on the electoral cycle has been studied at the international and regional level, there is no empirical evidence of its effect at the local level. Using the financial transparency index made by Transparency International Spain, we show t…
Financial reports and decentralization in municipal governments
Some reforms implemented in the Spanish municipal sector have led to an increasing managerial decentralization. This decentralization has made municipal financial statements lose relevance, since devolved entities are not disclosed in these statements. Accordingly, we have made an empirical analysis of 54 big Spanish municipalities in order to evaluate the impact of decentralization on the municipal financial statements. The survey shows a great …
The efficiency of public services in small municipalities: The case of drinking water supply
International Classification of Local Government Accounting Systems
In recent years most of the OECD countries have introduced important reforms in their public accounting systems, with the objective both of improving public service management and increasing the transparency and accountability of governments. In that context, we think that it could be interesting to study whether the changes and reforms have led to the convergence of local government accounting systems. We aim to show the real degree of uniformit…
Women's management in local government: The effects of substantive representation on welfare service efficiency
Spanish legislation on gender quotas in electoral candidate lists implies the effective incorporation of women into politics. This measure has created interest in the impact of this law on public service management (substantive representation), especially welfare services. This is due to the influence these services have on work‐life balance. Hence, the objective of this research is to determine the impact of women politicians on the efficiency o…
Impact of politicians’ salaries and their dedication regime on the efficiency of municipal public services
Cases of corruption, the financial and economic crisis, and citizens' growing interest in public affairs have contributed to the political changes that have taken place in Spain in recent years. In this scenario, in which new political actors appear, this research analyses whether politicians' remuneration, their dedication regime and several socio-political and economic variables have an impact on the efficiency of the main municipal services. T…
The Impact of the Housing Bubble on the Growth of Municipal Debt: Evidence from Spain
The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of the recent Spanish housing boom and the subsequent burst on local public finances. Particularly, we investigate the effect of the rise and later fall in revenue from urban development on local government debt. Using a sample of the Spanish largest municipalities in the period 2003–2011, we find that debt was substituted by revenue from urban development during boom years and this substitution effe…
The causes of legal rents extraction: Evidence from Spanish municipalities
Understanding the Factors Influencing SDG Achievement Across Nations: A Comprehensive Study
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework for addressing global challenges and building a more equitable and sustainable future for all. Governments must coordinate to achieve the SDGs, addressing capacity and resource constraints, as well as political, institutional, and socio‐economic barriers. In this context, this study examines the determinants affecting the achievement of the SDGs in 83 countries from 2016 to 2021, using …
Governing for the Goals: How Governance Quality Shapes the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 remains a major global challenge, as progress continues to vary significantly across countries. While governance is widely recognized as a key enabler of sustainable development, few studies have systematically explored how its various dimensions affect SDG performance at the national level. This study addresses this gap by analyzing a balanced panel of 145 countries over the period 2016–…
The sustainable development goals: How does their implementation affect the financial sustainability of the largest Spanish municipalities
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a universal challenge to which all society must be committed. Local governments play a fundamental role as they are closest to citizens, with first‐hand knowledge of their needs and as providers of essential services. Municipal governments are involved in many aspects of SDG implementation. Thus, these governments should work towards their implementation, bearing in mind that involvement in these i…
Political Budget Cycles in Public Revenues: Evidence From Fines
This article seeks to ascertain whether local governments make improper use of their discretion and use pecuniary sanctions for electoral purposes. To this end, a sample of Spanish municipalities with a population of more than 1,000 citizens during the period 2010 to 2016 has been used. Our results show that revenues from fines are influenced by the presence of elections. In particular, we find that local governments in an election year reduce th…
Do the illegal and legal rents of politicians affect municipal election outcomes? Empirical evidence
This paper aims to analyse whether illegal (corruption) and legal rent extraction (high politicians’ wages) affect electoral outcomes at municipal level. We use an initial sample of 145 Spanish municipalities over 50,000 for two electoral periods: 2004–2007 (before the crisis) and 2008–2011 (during the crisis). Our findings show that neither illegal nor legal rent extraction impact on re-election in non-crisis times. However, we observe that citi…
The Influence of Transparency on Municipal Taxation: An Empirical Analysis
Local government officials are accountable to citizens, who increasingly demand more transparency given the amount of taxes they pay. This paper analyses the relationship between municipal tax revenues and transparency in Spain. Based on a sample of 141 Spanish municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants and applying least squares regression and instrumental variable analysis based on two-stage least squares regression, we find that the most…
Influence of managerial ability on the re-election of municipal political parties
This article investigates whether citizens reward those politicians who achieve better results in public management with re-election. It analyses the last three electoral processes in Spanish local governments, a period that runs from the beginning of the economic crisis (2007) to the last municipal elections (2019). For periods of financial crisis, the results indicate a higher probability of re-election for governments that have better managed …
Determinants of efficiency improvement in the Spanish public lighting sector
Risks and Benefits of Legislative Budgetary Oversight
Although some studies highlight the risks to fiscal discipline, others regard legislative scrutiny as essential for fiscal transparency. We consider it necessary to analyze the potential risks and benefits associated with legislative budgetary oversight simultaneously. In particular, this article aims to ascertain whether legislative budgetary oversight is a risk to fiscal discipline as well as a benefit to budget transparency. Using a sample of …
Local and regional accounting and reporting in spain: An empirical outlook
During the first half of the nineties, many accounting innovations and reforms have been introduced in Spanish governmental accounting. In this context, the purposes of this paper are, on the one hand, to present the main features of local financial reporting legal requirements, which are very close to the central state accounting regulations, as well as real accountability and quality of reported information. On the other hand, this paper looks …
The determinants of the municipal debt policy in Spain
This paper analyzes the impact of economic, social and political factors on municipal debt behavior. With this aim, we have obtained a stratified random sample of 130 cities during a five-year period. These data have been used to configure a micro panel to obtain accurate estimates and to control for problems such as unobserved heterogeneity. The main conclusion obtained from this process is that non-financial surplus/deficit, financial independe…
International Classification of Local Government Accounting Systems
In recent years most of the OECD countries have introduced important reforms in their public accounting systems, with the objective both of improving public service management and increasing the transparency and accountability of governments. In that context, we think that it could be interesting to study whether the changes and reforms have led to the convergence of local government accounting systems. We aim to show the real degree of uniformit…
Financial reports and decentralization in municipal governments
Some reforms implemented in the Spanish municipal sector have led to an increasing managerial decentralization. This decentralization has made municipal financial statements lose relevance, since devolved entities are not disclosed in these statements. Accordingly, we have made an empirical analysis of 54 big Spanish municipalities in order to evaluate the impact of decentralization on the municipal financial statements. The survey shows a great …
Central Government Budget Practices and Transparency: An International Comparison
From an international perspective, a relationship between public sector transparency and better economic and social outcomes is something that is increasingly acknowledged. In terms of lack of transparency in budget reports both bureaucratic model and fiscal illusion theory have been argued as explanations. To assess transparency in budget practices we analyse to what extent a sample of 41 countries are meeting OECD requirements according to its …
Budget Transparency, Fiscal Performance, and Political Turnout: An International Approach
This paper attempts, for the first time, to assess the relationships between budget transparency, fiscal situation, and political turnout using a comparative international approach. With this aim, the authors build a comprehensive index of budget transparency encompassing 40 budget features based on international standards for a sample of 41 countries. They find a positive relationship between national government fiscal balance and budget transpa…
The Determinants of Local Government's Financial Transparency
This paper contributes to the scarce literature on government transparency by analysing the impact of political and socio-economic factors on municipal financial transparency. Our sample covers the 100 largest Spanish municipalities in 2008. Compulsory publicity and transparency are key to public management (rule-of-law theory). Our data show that Spanish municipalities are providing financial information beyond the legal requirements, thus excee…
Determinants of Central Government Budget Disclosure: An International Comparative Analysis
This paper attempts to identify the socio-economic, political and institutional determinants of central government budget disclosure, both through the Internet and other media. It builds budget disclosure indicators based on the International Budget Partnership questionnaire for 93 countries. The findings show that Internet penetration, education level, relative central government size, budget surplus, administrative culture, political competitio…
Electoral Cycles And Local Government Debt Management
The literature provides both theories and empirical assessments that link national electoral cycles and opportunistic incumbents' behaviour. However, at the subnational level the literature is scarce. Using a panel of 238 Spanish municipalities over the period 1992–2005, this paper investigates for the first time in Spain whether electoral events contribute to shape municipal debt policies. We show that the electoral cycle influences the municipa…
Transparency and Political Budget Cycles at municipal level
We analyze the effect of municipal financial transparency on the magnitude of political budget cycles. Our sample covers the Spanish largest municipalities in the period 1999‐2009. While the impact of transparency on the electoral cycle has been studied at the international and regional level, there is no empirical evidence of its effect at the local level. Using the financial transparency index made by Transparency International Spain, we show t…
Budget Transparency and Legislative Budgetary Oversight: An International Approach
This article attempts to evaluate the role the legislative budgetary oversight plays in enhancing budget transparency. This relationship has not been empirically tested so far. For a sample of 93 countries surveyed by International Budget Partnership in 2010, we show that, as expected, legislative budgetary oversight has a positive influence on budget transparency. Besides, the legal system, political competition, and economic level are also foun…
The causes of legal rents extraction: Evidence from Spanish municipalities
The Impact of the Housing Bubble on the Growth of Municipal Debt: Evidence from Spain
The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of the recent Spanish housing boom and the subsequent burst on local public finances. Particularly, we investigate the effect of the rise and later fall in revenue from urban development on local government debt. Using a sample of the Spanish largest municipalities in the period 2003–2011, we find that debt was substituted by revenue from urban development during boom years and this substitution effe…
Factors Explaining Public Participation in the Central Government Budget Process
This paper attempts to examine which factors explain public participation in the budget process in an international comparative approach. In particular, we investigate which socioeconomic, institutional, and political factors promote public engagement in the central government budget process. Using a sample of 93 countries, our results indicate that Internet penetration, population diversity, governmental financial situation, and budget transpare…
Risks and Benefits of Legislative Budgetary Oversight
Although some studies highlight the risks to fiscal discipline, others regard legislative scrutiny as essential for fiscal transparency. We consider it necessary to analyze the potential risks and benefits associated with legislative budgetary oversight simultaneously. In particular, this article aims to ascertain whether legislative budgetary oversight is a risk to fiscal discipline as well as a benefit to budget transparency. Using a sample of …
“Corruption premium” on municipal borrowing cost: The case of Spanish Mayors
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of mayors’ corruption on the municipal interest rate set by lenders. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of a panel data for all the Spanish cities with population over 50,000 for 2002–2013 (130 municipalities). In line with previous literature and the structure of the panel data, the authors use a generalized method of moments equation to the main model and three robustness c…
The efficiency of public services in small municipalities: The case of drinking water supply
Do the illegal and legal rents of politicians affect municipal election outcomes? Empirical evidence
This paper aims to analyse whether illegal (corruption) and legal rent extraction (high politicians’ wages) affect electoral outcomes at municipal level. We use an initial sample of 145 Spanish municipalities over 50,000 for two electoral periods: 2004–2007 (before the crisis) and 2008–2011 (during the crisis). Our findings show that neither illegal nor legal rent extraction impact on re-election in non-crisis times. However, we observe that citi…
Determinants of efficiency improvement in the Spanish public lighting sector
Measurement and determinants of efficiency in the municipal police service
Efficiency in the governance of the Covid-19 pandemic: Political and territorial factors
Transparency and efficient management in local governments
Impact of politicians’ salaries and their dedication regime on the efficiency of municipal public services
Cases of corruption, the financial and economic crisis, and citizens' growing interest in public affairs have contributed to the political changes that have taken place in Spain in recent years. In this scenario, in which new political actors appear, this research analyses whether politicians' remuneration, their dedication regime and several socio-political and economic variables have an impact on the efficiency of the main municipal services. T…
Political Budget Cycles in Public Revenues: Evidence From Fines
This article seeks to ascertain whether local governments make improper use of their discretion and use pecuniary sanctions for electoral purposes. To this end, a sample of Spanish municipalities with a population of more than 1,000 citizens during the period 2010 to 2016 has been used. Our results show that revenues from fines are influenced by the presence of elections. In particular, we find that local governments in an election year reduce th…
Efficiency and sustainability in municipal social policies
Local governments play a crucial role in the fight for a more sustainable world and, therefore, in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they are the closest public entities to citizens and best know their needs. Local governments should be the driving force behind integrating the different areas of sustainability in their municipalities, especially in social services, which is the focus of this paper. However, these governments …
Political science (32 works) · Business (31 works) · Economics (31 works) · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth (24 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (24 works) · Public economics (22 works) · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy (21 works) · Politics (16 works) · Public Administration (16 works) · Local government (15 works)