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Buying Informed Voters: New Effects of Information on Voters and Candidates

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  • Cesi Cruz
  • Philip Keefer
  • Julien Labonne

Abstract

Despite the prominence of information in theories of electoral accountability, providing voters with information often fails to improve politician performance. Using two experiments in the Philippines, we show that when voters are unfamiliar with basic government capabilities, merely informing them of what politicians could do is sufficient to decrease support for incumbents. However, politicians can counteract this decrease in support by increasing clientelistic practices such as vote buying. Our work shows how even neutral information campaigns can improve the leverage of voters vis-à-vis their politicians, offering guidance for the design of interventions to change the electoral equilibrium in clientelistic countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Cesi Cruz & Philip Keefer & Julien Labonne, 2021. "Buying Informed Voters: New Effects of Information on Voters and Candidates," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(635), pages 1105-1134.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:131:y:2021:i:635:p:1105-1134.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueaa112
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    Cited by:

    1. Lockwood, Ben & Porcelli, Francesco & Redoano, Michela & Schiavone, Antonio, 2022. "Does Data Disclosure Improve Local Government Performance? Evidence from Italian Municipalities," QAPEC Discussion Papers 17, Quantitative and Analytical Political Economy Research Centre.
    2. James Habyarimana & Stuti Khemani & Thiago Scot, 2023. "The importance of political selection for bureaucratic effectiveness," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(359), pages 746-779, July.
    3. Agneman, Gustav, 2022. "How economic expectations shape preferences for national independence: Evidence from Greenland," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Schechter, Laura & Vasudevan, Srinivasan, 2023. "Persuading voters to punish corrupt vote-buying candidates: Experimental evidence from a large-scale radio campaign in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Alice Guerra & Mogens K. Justesen, 2022. "Vote buying and redistribution," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 315-344, December.

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