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Pandering and pork-barrel politics

Author

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  • Maskin, Eric
  • Tirole, Jean
Abstract
We develop a model of pork-barrel politics in which a government official tries to improve her reelection chances by spending on targeted interest groups. The spending signals that she shares their concerns. We investigate the effect of such pandering on public spending. Pandering increases spending relative to a non-accountable official (one who does not have to run for reelection) if either the official's overall spending propensity is known, or if it is unknown but the effect of spending on the deficit is opaque to voters. By contrast, an unknown spending propensity may induce the elected official to exhibit fiscal discipline if spending is transparent.

Suggested Citation

  • Maskin, Eric & Tirole, Jean, 2019. "Pandering and pork-barrel politics," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 79-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:176:y:2019:i:c:p:79-93
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.04.005
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    3. Frank, Marco & Stadelmann, David, 2021. "More federal legislators lead to more resources for their constituencies: Evidence from exogenous differences in seat allocations," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 230-243.
    4. Agustín Molina†Parra & Diego Martínez†López, 2018. "Do Federal Deficits Motivate Regional Fiscal (Im)Balances? Evidence For The Spanish Case," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 224-258, January.
    5. S. Nageeb Ali & B. Douglas Bernheim & Alexander W. Bloedel & Silvia Console Battilana, 2022. "Who Controls the Agenda Controls the Polity," Papers 2212.01263, arXiv.org.
    6. Pierre C. Boyer & Brian Roberson & Christoph Esslinger, 2024. "Public Debt and the Political Economy of Reforms," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 459-491, August.
    7. Schilling, Linda, 2020. "On the (Ir)relevance of Firm Size for Bail-outs under Voter-Neutrality: The Case of Foreign Stakeholders," CEPR Discussion Papers 15508, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Alvaro Forteza & Juan S. Pereyra, 2021. "Separation of powers with ideological parties," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 33(3), pages 333-382, July.
    9. Timini, Jacopo, 2020. "Staying dry on Spanish wine: The rejection of the 1905 Spanish-Italian trade agreement," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Antonio Abatemarco & Roberto Dell’Anno, 2020. "Fiscal illusion and progressive taxation with retrospective voting," Economic and Political Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 246-273, April.
    11. Marco Di Cataldo & Elena Renzullo, 2024. "EU Money and Mayors: Does Cohesion Policy affect local electoral outcomes?," Working Papers 2024: 02, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    12. Daniele, Gianmarco & Piolatto, Amedeo & Sas, Willem, 2024. "Does the winner take it all? Federal policies and political extremism," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    13. Simon Lodato & Christos Mavridis & Federico Vaccari, 2024. "The Unelected Hand? Bureaucratic Influence and Electoral Accountability," Papers 2402.17526, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accountability; Pandering; Deficit bias; Redistributive politics; Budget caps;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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