Polarization and Corruption in America

Mickael Melki and Andrew Pickering

Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: The hypothesis that ideological polarization reduces corruption is tested using panel data from the US. To identify the causal effect of polarization, polarization is instrumented with lagged political position-taking in geographically neighboring states. Polarization is found to significantly reduce corruption. Consistent with the idea that ideological distance imposes additional electoral discipline on politicians, the beneficial effect of polarization is found to increase when political competition is high and when incumbent governors are eligible to run for office.

Keywords: Corruption; ideological polarization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H0 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-law and nep-pol
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Journal Article: Polarization and corruption in America (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:yorken:16/09

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