Abstract: Field data on the strategic use of deficits to limit the budgetary scope of future governments are inconclusive about the effects of political polarization or a government's re-election probability on fiscal policy. Therefore, we designed a controlled experiment to examine the strategic use of deficits. Using a within-subjects design, we find that deficits rise with a higher degree of polarization and a lower re-election probability. However, in a between-subjects design neither polarization nor re-election probabilities have a systematic effect. We discuss the implications of our experimental results for empirical tests of the strategic use of deficits with field data.