Publication

This paper analyzes how audit courts and local autonomy affect political discussion. A multivariate analysis controls for a broad variety of potential factors focusing on Switzerland, due to its variety of audit court competences and its strong decentralized structure. With data from the World Values Survey 1995-1997 (Swiss data 1996) evidence has been found that a higher audit court competence and a lower level of centralization is correlated with a higher level of political discussion. Thus, the results in Switzerland suggest that such institutions help improve citizens’ willingness to acquire information costs and discuss political matters.