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Grants-in-aid and the prospect of re-election: The impact of EU funds on mayoral elections in Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Monika Banaszewska

    (Poznan University of Economics and Business)

  • Ivo Bischoff

    (University of Kassel)

Abstract

We investigate whether grants-in-aid help the recipient government to get re-elected. We take Poland as our testing ground and analyze the impact of EU funds spent within a municipality on mayoral elections in 2010 and 2014. We employ an instrumental variables approach to account for the endogeneity of EU funds. Our results show that EU funds do not generally increase the mayors’ chance of reelection. We test whether the impact of EU funds is moderated by municipal characteristics. We find no moderating effect for the fiscal situation of municipalities but positive effects for human capital endowment and for the share of pro-European citizens. These results suggest that the political incentives inherent do not help to concentrate EU funds in regions where there is a particular need to foster economic development, nor do they help to direct funds to municipalities where the potential to reconcile EU sceptics is high.

Suggested Citation

  • Monika Banaszewska & Ivo Bischoff, 2018. "Grants-in-aid and the prospect of re-election: The impact of EU funds on mayoral elections in Poland," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201822, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    • Handle: RePEc:mar:magkse:201822
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    grants-in-aid; EU; Poland; local elections; instrumental variable regressions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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