A Structural Model of Electoral Accountability

S. Boragan Aruoba, Allan Drazen () and Razvan Vlaicu

No 21151, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper proposes a structural approach to measuring the effects of electoral accountability. We estimate a political agency model with imperfect information in order to identify and quantify discipline and selection effects, using data on U.S. governors for 1982-2012. We find that the possibility of reelection provides a significant incentive for incumbents to exert effort. We also find a selection effect, although it is weaker in terms of its effect on average governor performance. According to our model, the widely-used two-term regime improves voter welfare by 4.2% compared to a one-term regime, and find that a three-term regime may improve voter welfare even further.

JEL-codes: D72 D73 H70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
Note: EFG POL
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as S. Borağan Aruoba & Allan Drazen & Razvan Vlaicu, 2018. "A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF ELECTORAL ACCOUNTABILITY," International Economic Review, .

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Working Paper: A Structural Model of Electoral Accountability (2016)
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