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And the Beat Goes On: Further Evidence on Voting on the Form of County Governance in the Midst of Public Corruption

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  • Gökhan R. Karahan
  • R. Morris Coats
  • William F. Shughart

Abstract

‘Operation Pretense,’ an FBI sting operation conducted in Mississippi during the 1980s, uncovered widespread corruption among the state's county supervisors. The revelations prompted the Mississippi legislature to authorize including on the November 1988 ballot a measure asking voters whether they favored switching to a more centralized ‘unit system’ of county governance or instead retaining the decentralized ‘beat system’ then in place in all but two of the state's 82 counties. We examine voters' decisions to participate in that election, in which 47 counties returned majorities for the unit system and 35 counties opted for the status quo. Controlling for participation in the 1988 presidential race and other relevant factors, we find that turnout rates for the beat‐unit choice were positively correlated with supervisor corruption. We also find that the corrupt counties' higher voter turnouts were driven mainly by supporters of the corruption‐prone beat system.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:62:y:2009:i:1:p:65-84
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6435.2009.00423.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Monica Escaleras & Peter T. Calcagno & William F. Shughart II, 2012. "Corruption and Voter Participation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 40(6), pages 789-815, November.
    2. Karel Kouba & Michael Haman, 2021. "When do voters boycott elections with participation quorums?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 279-300, October.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Monica Escaleras & Peter T. Calcagno, 2018. "Does Fiscal Decentralization Affect Infrastructure Quality? An Examination Of U.S. States," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(2), pages 410-422, April.

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