Public Employees as Politicians: Evidence from Close Elections

Ari Hyytinen, Jaakko Meriläinen (), Tuukka Saarimaa, Otto Toivanen and Janne Tukiainen

American Political Science Review, 2018, vol. 112, issue 1, 68-81

Abstract: We analyze the effect of municipal employees’ political representation in municipal councils on local public spending. We use within-party, as-good-as-random variation in close elections in the Finnish open-list proportional election system to quantify the effect. One more councilor employed by the public sector increases spending by about 1%. The effect comes largely through the largest party and is specific to the employment sector of the municipal employee. The results are consistent with public employees having an information advantage over other politicians, and thus, being able to influence policy.

Date: 2018
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Working Paper: Public Employees as Politicians: Evidence from Close Elections (2016)
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