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The relationship between federal budget amendments and local electoral power

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  • Firpo, Sergio
  • Ponczek, Vladimir
  • Sanfelice, Viviane

Abstract

The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, we investigate whether politicians use resources from the federal budget to maintain and expand their political capital. Second, we examine whether such strategy is rewarded by voters. Do they vote for politicians who assist their municipalities through federal expenditures? We use data from legislative elections in Brazil, a country that does not use a single member district system to form its Chamber of Deputies. We use a regression discontinuity approach by exploring the results of close elections for the Chamber of Deputies. Our findings indicate that politicians tend to favor municipalities that were important to their elections and that voters support candidates who have brought resources to their localities.

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  • Firpo, Sergio & Ponczek, Vladimir & Sanfelice, Viviane, 2015. "The relationship between federal budget amendments and local electoral power," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 186-198.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:116:y:2015:i:c:p:186-198
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.04.005
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    3. Gonschorek, Gerrit J. & Schulze, Günther G. & Sjahrir, Bambang Suharnoko, 2018. "To the ones in need or the ones you need? The political economy of central discretionary grants − empirical evidence from Indonesia," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 240-260.
    4. Chatterjee, Somdeep & Mookerjee, Mehreen & Ojha, Manini & Roy, Sanket, 2023. "Does increased credibility of elections lead to higher political competition? Evidence from India," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Gouvêa, Raphael & Girardi, Daniele, 2021. "Partisanship and local fiscal policy: Evidence from Brazilian cities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    6. Mattos, Enlinson & Politi, Ricardo & Morata, Rodrigo, 2021. "Birthplace favoritism and the distribution of budget amendments in Brazil: Evidence from nondistrict elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Diloá Athias & Rodrigo Schneider, 2021. "The impact of political representation on the provision of public goods and services," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(2), pages 367-381, June.
    8. Diogo Baerlocher & Rodrigo Schneider, 2021. "Cold bacon: co-partisan politics in Brazil," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 161-182, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Voter's preference; Pork barrel; Politician's strategies; Electoral power; Regression discontinuity design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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