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Does Partisan Alignment Affect the Electoral Reward of Intergovernmental Transfers?

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  • Albert Solé-Ollé
  • Pilar Sorribas-Navarro

Abstract

In this paper we test the hypothesis that intergovernmental grants allocated to co-partisans buy more political support than grants allocated to local governments controlled by opposition parties. We use a rich Spanish database containing information about the grants received by 617 municipalities during the period 1993-2003 from two different upper-tier governments (Regional and Upper-local), as well as data of municipal voting behaviour at three electoral contests held at the different layers of government during this period. Therefore, we are able to estimate two different vote equations, analysing the effects of grants given to aligned and unaligned municipalities on the vote share of the incumbent party/parties at the regional and local elections. We account for the endogeneity of grants by instrumenting them with the average amount of grants distributed by upper-layer governments. The results suggest that grants given to co-partisans buy some political support, but that grants given to opposition parties do not bring any votes, suggesting that the grantee reaps as much political credit from intergovernmental grants as the grantor.

Suggested Citation

  • Albert Solé-Ollé & Pilar Sorribas-Navarro, 2008. "Does Partisan Alignment Affect the Electoral Reward of Intergovernmental Transfers?," CESifo Working Paper Series 2335, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2335
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    11. Núria Bosch Roca & Albert Solé-Ollé, 2007. "(When) Do Tax Increases Cause Electoral Damage? The Case of Local Property Taxes in Spain," Chapters, in: José Casas Pardo & Pedro Schwartz (ed.), Public Choice and the Challenges of Democracy, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Castells, Antoni & Sole-Olle, Albert, 2005. "The regional allocation of infrastructure investment: The role of equity, efficiency and political factors," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1165-1205, July.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Giardina, Emilio & Cavalieri, Marina & Guccio, Calogero & Mazza, Isidoro, 2009. "Federalism, Party Competition and Budget Outcome: Empirical Findings on Regional Health Expenditure in Italy," MPRA Paper 16437, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Bianka Dettmer & Thomas Sauer, 2019. "Implementation of European Cohesion Policy at the sub‐national level: Evidence from beneficiary data in Eastern Germany," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(1), pages 167-189, February.
    4. 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).
    5. Thushyanthan Baskaran, 2017. "Local fiscal policy after a bailout: austerity or soft budget constraints?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 209-238, August.
    6. Padovano, Fabio, 2012. "The drivers of interregional policy choices: Evidence from Italy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 324-340.
    7. Stoecker, Alexander, 2022. "Partisan alignment and political corruption: Evidence from a new democracy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Oskar Nupia, 2011. "Anti-Poverty Programs and Presidential Election Outcomes: Familias en Acción in Colombia," Documentos CEDE 8743, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    9. Banaszewska, Monika & Bischoff, Ivo, 2021. "Grants-in-aid and election outcomes in recipient jurisdictions: The impact of EU funds on mayoral elections in Poland," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Baskaran, Thushyanthan, 2014. "Bailouts and austerity," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 212, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    11. Balaguer-Coll, Maria Teresa & Brun-Martos, María Isabel & Forte, Anabel & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2015. "Local governments' re-election and its determinants: New evidence based on a Bayesian approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 94-108.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    voting; parties; grants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

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