Appointed public officials and local favoritism: Evidence from the German states

Thushyanthan Baskaran and Mariana Lopes da Fonseca

Journal of Urban Economics, 2021, vol. 124, issue C

Abstract: We study targeted redistribution by appointed state cabinet members (ministers) in Germany. Matching data on state ministers’ place of residence and state government employment data for the universe of western German municipalities for 1994–2013, we show within a difference-in-differences framework that municipalities that are the residence of a minister experience a higher annual growth rate in state government employment if they retain this status for more than one legislative term. Thus, our results suggest that appointed cabinet members engage in hometown favoritism. We discuss several potential mechanisms for this behavior.

Keywords: Distributive politics; Political selection; Favoritism; Employment growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 H70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Appointed public officials and local favoritism: Evidence from the German states (2018)
Working Paper: Appointed Public Officials and Local Favoritism: Evidence from the German States (2017)
Working Paper: Appointed Public Officials and Local Favoritism: Evidence from the German States (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juecon:v:124:y:2021:i:c:s009411902100036x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2021.103354

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