Electoral Rules for Mayors and Incentives to Pork-Barrel: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from German Municipalities

Zohal Hessami

VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy from Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association

Abstract: This paper exploits a natural experiment in Hesse where a reform of the electoral rule from mayor appointment by the local council towards direct mayor elections was introduced during a phase-in period from 1993 to 1998. The end of the term of the last appointed mayor varies across municipalities for exogenous historical reasons and determines the timing of the switch in a particular municipality. Di fference-in-di fference estimations for 421 municipalities over the period from 1981 to 2010 reveal that municipalities with a directly elected mayor attract 5% more investment transfers from the state tier. This e ffect only materializes in the election year which suggests that mayors under the new electoral rule put more e ffort into grant applications for highly visible infrastructure projects in order to increase their re-election probability.

JEL-codes: D72 H72 H77 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:vfsc14:100432

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