The Politics of Public Service Reform

Wayne Sandholtz

No 18346, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper provides experimental evidence on the electoral effect of a large education reform in a developing democracy. The reform significantly improved school quality on many dimensions (Romero, Sandefur, & Sandholtz, 2020). In this paper, I show that the reform reduced the incumbent party's pres- idential vote share by 2.1 percentage points (5%). The reform also reduced teachers' job satisfaction, support for the incumbent government, and political engagement. Electoral effects were positively correlated with effects on teachers' political engagement; the reform lost most votes where it caused greatest political disengagement of teachers.

Keywords: randomized controlled trial; elections; policy feedback; political economy; public service delivery; development; education; Liberia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D72 H41 I25 O10 P00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-exp and nep-pol
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