Public-sector organizations and the dynamics of public cash: evidence from data on public transactions

We investigate interlinkages among public-sector organizations by studying the dynamics of public cash. Analyzing a comprehensive database of public-cash transactions in Slovenia, we construct weekly time series of cash sums disbursed by direct budget users (DBU), indirect budget users (IBU), and government-controlled private-law entities (GCPLE). Remarkably, the main originators of public-cash transactions are GCPLE. Using vector-autoregression, we find that cash transactions of each public-sector segment are self-perpetuating but, interestingly, covary to a limited extent. DBU transactions temporarily elevate, while GCPLE transactions permanently crowd out, IBU transactions. Shocks in DBU and IBU transactions drive GCPLE transactions during specific subperiods. Our paper offers a new empirical lens for understanding public-sector activity.