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He Who Counts Elects: Economic Elites, Political Elites, and Electoral Fraud

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  • Isaías Chaves
  • Leopoldo Fergusson
  • James A. Robinson

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="ecpo12052-abs-0001"> What determines the extent of electoral fraud? This paper constructs a model of the tradeoff between fraud and policy concessions (public good provision) which also incorporates the strength of the state. In addition, we parameterize the extent to which economic elites (to whom fraud is costly) and political elites (to whom fraud is advantageous) “overlap.” The model predicts that fraud will be lower and public good provision higher when land inequality is higher, the overlap between elites lower, and the strength of the state higher. We test these predictions using a unique, municipal-level dataset from Colombia's 1922 Presidential elections. We find empirical support for all the predictions of the model.

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  • Isaías Chaves & Leopoldo Fergusson & James A. Robinson, 2015. "He Who Counts Elects: Economic Elites, Political Elites, and Electoral Fraud," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 124-159, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecopol:v:27:y:2015:i:1:p:124-159
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecpo.2015.27.issue-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Leopoldo Fergusson & Juan F. Vargas, 2023. "Colombia: Democratic but Violent?," Springer Books, in: Felipe Valencia Caicedo (ed.), Roots of Underdevelopment, pages 285-316, Springer.
    2. Leonardo Bonilla-Mejía & Iván Higuera-Mendieta, 2018. "Notas sobre la economía política del Caribe colombiano," Revista Economía y Región, Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, vol. 12(2), pages 7-41, December.
    3. Ananyev, Maxim & Poyker, Michael, 2022. "Do dictators signal strength with electoral fraud?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Leopoldo Fergusson & Juan F. Vargas & Mauricio A. Vela, 2013. "Sunlight Disinfects? Free Media in Weak Democracies," Documentos CEDE 10487, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    5. Leopoldo Fergusson, 2019. "Who wants violence? The political economy of conflict and state building in Colombia," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 38(78), pages 671-700, November.
    6. Fergusson, Leopoldo & Mejía, Javier & Robinson, James A. & Torres, Santiago, 2023. "Constitutions and Order: A theory and comparative evidence from Colombia and the United States," Documentos CEDE 20815, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.

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