A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF ELECTORAL ACCOUNTABILITY

S. Boragan Aruoba, Allan Drazen and Razvan Vlaicu

International Economic Review, 2019, vol. 60, issue 2, 517-545

Abstract: This article proposes a structural approach to measuring the effects of electoral accountability. We estimate a political agency model with imperfect information in order to identify and quantify discipline and selection effects, using data on U.S. governors. We find that the possibility of reelection provides a significant incentive for incumbents to exert effort, that is, a disciplining effect. We also find a positive but weaker selection effect. According to our model, the widely used two‐term regime improves voter welfare by 4.2% compared to a one‐term regime, and better voter information about the effort of the governors would further increase voter welfare by up to 0.5%.

Date: 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1111/iere.12361

Related works:
Working Paper: A Structural Model of Electoral Accountability (2016)
Working Paper: A Structural Model of Electoral Accountability (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:60:y:2019:i:2:p:517-545

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