Political Connections, Allocation of Stimulus Spending, and the Jobs Multiplier

Joonkyu Choi, Veronika Penciakova and Felipe Saffie
Additional contact information
Joonkyu Choi: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/joonkyu-choi.htm
Veronika Penciakova: https://www.atlantafed.org/research/economists/penciakova-veronika.aspx

No 2021-13, FRB Atlanta Working Paper from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Abstract: Using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) data, we show that firms lever their political connections to win stimulus grants and that public expenditure channeled through politically connected firms hinders job creation. We build a unique database that links information on campaign contributions, state legislative elections, firm characteristics, and ARRA grant allocation. Using exogenous variation in political connections based on ex-post close elections held before ARRA, we causally show that politically connected firms are 38 percent more likely to secure a grant. Based on an instrumental variable approach, we also establish that a one standard deviation increase in the share of politically connected ARRA spending lowers the number of jobs created per $1 million spent by 7.1 jobs. Therefore, the impact of fiscal stimulus is not only determined by how much is spent, but also by how the expenditure is allocated across recipients.

Keywords: campaign finance; state grants; public expenditure allocation; American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 D72 E62 H57 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61
Date: 2021-05-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-mac and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in 2021

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Related works:
Working Paper: Political Connections, Allocation of Stimulus Spending, and the Jobs Multiplier (2024)
Working Paper: Political Connections, Allocation of Stimulus Spending, and the Jobs Multiplier (2021)
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DOI: 10.29338/wp2021-13

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