Fiscal Policies and Parliamentary Activities of Minority Governments in the German States

We examine fiscal policies and parliamentary activities of minority governments in the
German states. Our sample includes the German states over the period 1981-2024. The results
show that minority governments implemented similar fiscal policies to majority governments.
Minority governments had about 14 more parliamentary bills than majority
governments, a result that is based on the activities of opposition parties and not of
the minority governments. We conclude that minority governments have not performed
worse than majority governments for a long time. We present case study evidence on
minority governments in Thuringia and Saxony showing that a more fragmented party
system makes it more difficult for minority governments to perform well and implement
their policy goals. Future research should investigate in more detail the performance of
minority governments in times of fragmented party systems.