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Drought‐Reliefs and Partisanship

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  • Federico Boffa
  • Francisco Cavalcanti
  • Christian Fons‐Rosen
  • Amedeo Piolatto

Abstract

We combine a model of symmetric information with selfish and office‐motivated politicians and a Regression Discontinuity Design analysis based on close municipal elections to study partisan bias in the allocation of drought aid relief in Brazil. We identify a novel pattern of distributive politics whereby partisan bias materialises only before municipal elections, while it disappears before presidential elections. Furthermore, before mayoral elections, it fades for extreme (high or low) aridity levels while persisting for moderate levels. Our empirical results show that in this case alignment increases the probability of receiving aid relief by a factor of two (equivalent to 18.1 percentage points).

Suggested Citation

  • Federico Boffa & Francisco Cavalcanti & Christian Fons‐Rosen & Amedeo Piolatto, 2024. "Drought‐Reliefs and Partisanship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 86(2), pages 187-208, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:obuest:v:86:y:2024:i:2:p:187-208
    DOI: 10.1111/obes.12560
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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