Electoral Accountability and Interdistrict Competition

Galina Zudenkova ()

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2018, vol. 10, issue 3, 143-76

Abstract: This paper analyzes a multidistrict game of electoral accountability in which constituencies compete over scarce resources by setting expectations for targeted spending. I build a political agency model in which a vote-maximizing politician is subject to the oversight of distinct constituencies. The voters' demand for targeted spending in these constituencies is driven down by the competition among them. In order to make their constituency an attractive choice for discretionary spending, the voters adopt reelection standards below what they receive in equilibrium. They therefore tend to be satisfied with the distributive politics of the incumbent politician. The incumbent is then quite likely to win more than half of the votes.

JEL-codes: D72 D82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.20150307
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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