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Does enfranchisement affect fiscal policy? Theory and empirical evidence on Brazil.
- Source :
- Economics of Governance; Dec2019, Vol. 20 Issue 4, p389-412, 24p
- Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- This paper studies the effect of political participation on public spending at the local level in Brazil. In particular, we look at the phased-in implementation of electronic voting in the late 1990s—which enfranchised poorer voters by decreasing the number of invalid votes—to identify the causal effect of political participation on public spending. We build a theoretical political economy model which allows voters to cast, not purposefully, an invalid vote, and show that when poorer voters' likelihood of casting a valid vote increases, public social spending increases as well. We test this prediction empirically using a difference-in-differences model where municipalities using electronic voting constitute our treatment group. We find that an increase of 1 percentage point in the valid vote to turnout ratio for state representatives increases health spending by 1.8%; education by 1.4%; public employment by 1.25%; intergovernmental transfers by 1%; and local taxes by 2.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14356104
- Volume :
- 20
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Economics of Governance
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 139524957
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-019-00230-6