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Corrupt political jurisdictions and voter participation

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  • Gökhan Karahan
  • R. Coats
  • William Shughart

Abstract

An FBI investigation of county purchasing activities in the mid 1980s resulted in the conviction of 55 of Mississippi's 410 county supervisors. Analyzing data from the state's 1987 county supervisor elections and hypothesizing that candidates' demands for votes increase as the gains from holding public office increase, we predict larger voter turnouts in the 26 of the state's 82 counties where supervisor corruption was exposed. Holding constant average voter turnout in the preceding U.S. presidential election and controlling for the competitiveness of supervisor races, we find that more Mississippians indeed voted in corrupt than in non-corrupt counties. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Gökhan Karahan & R. Coats & William Shughart, 2006. "Corrupt political jurisdictions and voter participation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 87-106, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:126:y:2006:i:1:p:87-106
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-006-4316-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gökhan Karahan & Laura Razzolini & William Shughart, 2006. "No Pretense to Honesty: County Government Corruption in Mississippi," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 211-227, August.
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    4. Gökhan R. Karahan & Laura Razzolini & William F. Shughart II, 2002. "Centralized versus decentralized decision-making in a county government setting," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 101-115, July.
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    7. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kauder, Björn & Potrafke, Niklas, 2015. "Just hire your spouse! Evidence from a political scandal in Bavaria," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 42-54.
    2. Björn Kauder & Niklas Potrafke, 2022. "Rewarding conservative politicians? Evidence from voting on same-sex marriage," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 191(1), pages 161-172, April.
    3. Elena Costas-Pérez, 2014. "Political corruption and voter turnout: mobilization or disaffection?," Working Papers 2014/27, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    4. Lacombe, Donald J. & Coats, R. Morris & Shughart II, William F. & Karahan, Gökhan, 2016. "Corruption and Voter Turnout: A Spatial Econometric Approach," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 46(2), December.
    5. Monica Escaleras & Nejat Anbarci & Charles Register, 2006. "Public Sector Corruption and Natural Disasters: A Potentially Deadly Interaction," Working Papers 06005, Department of Economics, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, revised Aug 2006.
    6. Andersen, Jørgen Juel & Heggedal, Tom-Reiel, 2019. "Political rents and voter information in search equilibrium," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 146-168.
    7. Amrita Dillon & GANI ALDASHEV, 2015. "Voter Turnout and Political Rents," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(4), pages 528-552, August.
    8. Eric C. C. Chang, 2020. "Corruption predictability and corruption voting in Asian democracies," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 307-326, September.
    9. Niklas Potrafke & Felix Roesel, 2019. "A banana republic? The effects of inconsistencies in the counting of votes on voting behavior," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 231-265, January.
    10. Elena Costas-Pérez, 2014. "Political corruption and voter turnout: mobilization or disaffection?," Working Papers 2014/27, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    11. Nadia Fiorino & Nicola Pontarollo & Roberto Ricciuti, 2017. "Supra National, National and Regional Dimensions of Voter Turnout in European Parliament Elections," JRC Research Reports JRC108755, Joint Research Centre.
    12. Axel Dreher & Lars-H. Siemers, 2009. "The nexus between corruption and capital account restrictions," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 245-265, July.
    13. Paulo Arvate & Sergio Mittlaender, 2017. "Condemning corruption while condoning inefficiency: an experimental investigation into voting behavior," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 399-419, September.
    14. Farah, Alfa, 2019. "Fiscal decentralization and electoral participation: Analyzing districts in Indonesia," CIW Discussion Papers 4/2019, University of Münster, Center for Interdisciplinary Economics (CIW).
    15. Karel Kouba & Michael Haman, 2021. "When do voters boycott elections with participation quorums?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 279-300, October.
    16. Gökhan R. Karahan & R. Morris Coats & William F. Shughart, 2009. "And the Beat Goes On: Further Evidence on Voting on the Form of County Governance in the Midst of Public Corruption," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 65-84, February.
    17. Marco Pani, 2011. "Hold your nose and vote: corruption and public decisions in a representative democracy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 163-196, July.
    18. Alessandra Foresta, 2020. "The rise of populist parties in the aftermath of a massive corruption scandal," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 289-306, September.
    19. Monica Escaleras & Peter T. Calcagno & William F. Shughart II, 2012. "Corruption and Voter Participation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 40(6), pages 789-815, November.
    20. Monica Escaleras & Nejat Anbarci & Charles Register, 2007. "Public sector corruption and major earthquakes: A potentially deadly interaction," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 209-230, July.

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