10.1177/0010414003262067 ARTICLE COMPARATIVE POLITICAL STUDIES / April 2004 Crepaz , Moser/ IMPACT OF VETO POINTS THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVE AND COMPETITIVE VETO POINTS ON PUBLIC EXPENDITURES IN THE GLOBAL AGE MARKUS M. L. CREPAZ University of Georgia ANN W. MOSER FedEx Corporate Services This study examines the determinants of public expenditures in advanced market economies by simultaneously assessing the impact of domestic political institutions and globalization. A dis- tinction is made between collective veto points and competitive veto points, demonstrating that not all veto points have restrictive effects. It is shown that public expenditures are significantly and positively affected by collective veto points, whereas the opposite is true for competitive veto points thereby indicating that not all veto points are created equal. In addition to veto points, the effects of globalization are also assessed revealing that globalization is exerting little reform pressures on the welfare state with strong evidence indicating that more globalization buoys pub- lic expenditures. Current disbursements and social transfers are both positively influenced by globalization. These findings suggest that domestic political institutions continue to shape policy trajectories in this purported global age. Keywords: veto points; globalization;public expenditures; political institutions; welfare state R edistribution of incomes, achieved mainly through taxation and trans- fer payments, is one of the most central functions of the modern state. This function was traditionally understood to be in the domain of domestic politics. With the purported rise of globalization, however, many observers believe that redistribution is affected in ways that threaten the modern wel- 259 AUTHORS’NOTE: Markus M. L. Crepaz would like to thank Peter Hall and Torben Iversen from the Center for European Studies at Harvard University for inviting him to their State and Capi- talism seminar where he presented this study for the first time in March 2002 and for their inspir- ing comments. In addition, Alan Jacobs’s incisive remarks as an impartial discussant are most COMPARATIVE POLITICAL STUDIES, Vol. 37 No. 3, April 2004 259-285 DOI: 10.1177/0010414003262067 © 2004 Sage Publications