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Exposure to corruption and political participation: Evidence from Italian municipalities

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  • Giommoni, Tommaso

Abstract

This paper aims to study the effects of exposure to corruption on all the aspects of political participation. Focusing on Italian municipalities in the period 1999–2014, we generate a daily and local measure of exposure to corruption, screening newspaper articles of the main Italian press agency. We concentrate on local elections and, in an event-study analysis, we find three main results. First, corruption exposure affects citizens' participation in election by reducing voter turnout. Second, corruption impacts on politicians’ participation: the number of candidates and electoral lists decreases after a scandal and candidates with political tenure are more likely to run. Finally, these changes affect local political outcomes as tenured politicians are more likely to be elected, while freshmen lose ground. These results suggest that exposure to corruption has general and negative effects on political participation, leading people to lose interest in politics.

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  • Giommoni, Tommaso, 2021. "Exposure to corruption and political participation: Evidence from Italian municipalities," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:68:y:2021:i:c:s017626802100001x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102000
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    2. Edgar Alva & María Urcia & Vanina Vivas, 2023. "Civic Engagement of Future Citizens: An Insight from Peruvian Students’ Attitudes towards Relevant Societal Issues as Predictors of Expected Conventional Political Participation," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 2187-2221, October.
    3. Patrice Bougette & Oliver Budzinski & Frédéric Marty, 2023. "In the Light of Dynamic Competition: Should We Make Merger Remedies More Flexible?," Working Papers AFED 23-01, Association Francaise d'Economie du Droit (AFED).
    4. Popova, Olga & See, Sarah Grace & Nikolova, Milena & Otrachshenko, Vladimir, 2023. "The Societal Costs of Inflation and Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 16541, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Rienks, Harm, 2023. "Corruption, scandals and incompetence: Do voters care?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Cerqua, Augusto & Ferrante, Chiara & Letta, Marco, 2023. "Electoral earthquake: Local shocks and authoritarian voting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Benjamin Monnery & Alexandre Chirat, 2024. "Trust in the Fight Against Political Corruption: A Survey Experiment among Citizens and Experts," Working Papers AFED 24-02, Association Francaise d'Economie du Droit (AFED).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corruption; Political participation; Political supply; Turnout; Political selection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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