Who buys vote-buying? How, how much, and at what cost?

Mustafa Kaba

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022, vol. 193, issue C, 98-124

Abstract: In this paper, I estimate the causal effects of a local food-subsidy program on electoral outcomes. I exploit the variation in voters’ walking distances from the program stores to identify their accessibility to the program. I find that a distributive spending in the amount of ∼5% of GDP per capita buys an additional vote for the incumbent. I then investigate who –based on partisanship– responds to the subsidy, and how much and how they respond. The findings indicate that all types of voters respond to the distributive spending in line with the reciprocity rule; however, they respond through different channels and in different magnitude. Importantly, the salient channel for opposition voters is abstention-buying, whereas incumbent supporters respond by an increased turnout.

Keywords: Vote-buying; Subsidy; Causal inference; Spatial data; Electoral response (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H24 H40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:193:y:2022:i:c:p:98-124

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.11.004

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