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Politics and investment: Examining the territorial allocation of public investment in Greece

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  • Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
  • Yannis Psycharis
  • Vassilis Tselios

Abstract

This paper discusses how electoral politics shapes the regional allocation of public investment expenditures per capita in Greece. Using regional public investment data for 10 political periods (1975-2009), combined with electoral data by constituency, a model is proposed which captures the influence of politics on the regional distribution of public investment expenditures. The results of the analysis point to a strong relationship between electoral results and regional public investment spending. Greek governing parties have tended to reward those constituencies returning them to office. Moreover, an increase in both the absolute and relative electoral returns of the governing party in a region has traditionally been followed by greater public investment per capita in that region. Regions where the governing party (whether Liberal or Socialist) has held a monopoly of seats have been the greatest beneficiaries of this type of pork-barrel politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Yannis Psycharis & Vassilis Tselios, 2015. "Politics and investment: Examining the territorial allocation of public investment in Greece," Working Papers. Collection A: Public economics, governance and decentralization 1502, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    • Handle: RePEc:gov:wpaper:1502
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    Cited by:

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    3. Lie Ma & Dandan Li & Xiaobo Tao & Haifeng Dong & Bei He & Xiaosu Ye, 2017. "Inequality, Bi-Polarization and Mobility of Urban Infrastructure Investment in China’s Urban System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Yannis Psycharis & Vassilis Tselios, 2016. "Liberals, Socialists, and pork-barrel politics in Greece," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(8), pages 1473-1492, August.
    5. José Marcelo Torres Ortega & Jorge Mario Ortega De la Rosa, 2022. "Flypaper Effect: The Colombian Municipalities Case for 2000-2017," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 97, pages 79-111, July-Dece.
    6. Potrafke, Niklas & Roesel, Felix, 2020. "The urban–rural gap in healthcare infrastructure: does government ideology matter?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 54(3), pages 340-351.
    7. Marco Di Cataldo & Elena Renzullo, 2024. "EU Money and Mayors: Does Cohesion Policy affect local electoral outcomes?," Working Papers 2024: 02, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    8. Rocha, Bruno T. & Afonso, Nuno & Melo, Patrícia C. & de Abreu e Silva, João, 2022. "What drives the allocation of motorways? Evidence from Portugal's fast-expanding network," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    9. Benos, Nikos & Karagiannis, Stelios, 2016. "Do education quality and spillovers matter? Evidence on human capital and productivity in Greece," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 563-573.
    10. Livert, Felipe & Gainza, Xabier & Acuña, Jose, 2019. "Paving the electoral way: Urban infrastructure, partisan politics and civic engagement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Tarık ILIMAN & Recep TEKELİ, 2016. "Political Economy of Poverty in Turkey," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 24(29).
    12. Torres Ortega, José Marcelo & Ortega De La Rosa, Jorge Mario, 2022. "Efecto flypaper: estudio de caso para los municipios colombianos, periodo 2000-2017," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, issue No. 97, pages 79-111, May.
    13. Tyralis, Hristos & Mamassis, Nikos & Photis, Yorgos N., 2017. "Spatial analysis of the electrical energy demand in Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 340-352.
    14. Polat, Sezgin, 2016. "Some Economic Consequences of Higher Education Expansion in Turkey," MPRA Paper 72602, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Narayan, Seema & Tran, Vuong Thao & Thuraisamy, Kannan, 2021. "State-level politics: Do they influence corporate investment decisions?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. Pinar, Mehmet & Stengos, Thanasis & Topaloglou, Nikolas, 2020. "On the construction of a feasible range of multidimensional poverty under benchmark weight uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 281(2), pages 415-427.
    17. Christina Kakderi & Anastasia Tasopoulou, 2017. "Regional economic resilience: the role of national and regional policies," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(8), pages 1435-1453, August.
    18. Yannis Psycharis & Stavroula Iliopoulou & Maria Zoi & Panagiotis Pantazis, 2021. "Beyond the socio‐economic use of fiscal transfers: The role of political factors in Greek intergovernmental grant allocations," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 982-1008, June.
    19. Ali, Amin Masud & Savoia, Antonio, 2023. "Decentralisation or patronage: What determines government's allocation of development spending in a unitary country? Evidence from Bangladesh," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    public investment; elections; pork-barrel politics; political geography; Greece;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

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