The Effects of Social Capital on Government Performance and Turnover: Theory and Evidence from Italian Municipalities

Ben Lockwood, Francesco Porcelli, Michela Redoano, Emanuele Bracco, Federica Liberini and Daniel Sgroi
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Michela Redoano: University of Warwic

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper makes three contributions. First, it presents a theoretical analysis of how social capital, formalized as trust in politicians, impacts on government performance and turnover, employing a political agency model with both moral hazard and adverse selection. Second, it presents novel measures of both local government performance and on social capital at the Italian municipality level, using administrative data and an online survey respectively. Third, empirical results are consistent with the main predictions of the theory; higher social capital improves both the discipline and selection effects of elections (performance both in the first and final terms in office), but also increases turnover of incumbent mayors.

Keywords: Social Capital; Voting; Elections; Government Efficiency JEL codes: H41; H72; D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol, nep-soc and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1284

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