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Election rules, legislators' incentives, and policy outcomes: Evidence from the mixed member system in Germany

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  • Maaser, Nicola
  • Stratmann, Thomas

Abstract

Committee membership in mixed-member systems presents an informative setting for studying legislators' behavior under majoritarian vs. proportional electoral incentives. Committee membership allows for a determination as to whether legislators sort themselves into committees that are more consistent with an objective to win the next election in their electoral district, or more consistent with gaining a more prestigious position in their party. Using data from three large German states, we find that legislators elected in the electoral system's majoritarian tier more often become members of “district committees,” i.e., committees that might give politicians greater opportunity than others to obtain government funds for the benefit of their home districts. This effect is strongest for legislators who won district elections by narrow margins. Moreover, we find that districts that are better represented on “district committees” receive more government funds.

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  • Maaser, Nicola & Stratmann, Thomas, 2018. "Election rules, legislators' incentives, and policy outcomes: Evidence from the mixed member system in Germany," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 227-239.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:54:y:2018:i:c:p:227-239
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2018.03.001
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    2. Frank, Marco & Stadelmann, David, 2021. "More federal legislators lead to more resources for their constituencies: Evidence from exogenous differences in seat allocations," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 230-243.
    3. Stadelmann, David & Torrens, Gustavo & Portmann, Marco, 2020. "Mapping the theory of political representation to the empirics: An investigation for proportional and majoritarian rules," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 548-560.
    4. Alpino, Matteo, 2020. "Mitigating the tradeoff between proportionality and accountability in electoral systems: Evidence from the Italian senate 1994-2006," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-002, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Portmann, Marco & Stadelmann, David & Eichenberger, Reiner, 2022. "Incentives dominate selection – Chamber-changing legislators are driven by electoral rules and voter preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 353-366.
    6. Born, Andreas & Janssen, Aljoscha, 2022. "Does a district mandate matter for the behavior of politicians? An analysis of roll-call votes and parliamentary speeches," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Wochner, Timo, 2022. "Part-time parliamentarians? Evidence from outside earnings and parliamentary activities," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

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