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Do Fairer Elections Increase the Responsiveness of Politicians?

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  • OFOSU, GEORGE KWAKU

Abstract

Leveraging novel experimental designs and 2,160 months of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) spending by legislators in Ghana, I examine whether and how fairer elections promote democratic responsiveness. The results show that incumbents elected from constituencies that were randomly assigned to intensive election-day monitoring during Ghana’s 2012 election spent 19 percentage points more of their CDFs during their terms in office compared with those elected from constituencies with fewer monitors. Legislators from all types of constituencies are equally present in parliament, suggesting that high levels of monitoring do not cause politicians to substitute constituency service for parliamentary work. Tests of causal mechanisms provide suggestive evidence that fairer elections motivate high performance through incumbents’ expectations of electoral sanction and not the selection of better candidates. The article provides causal evidence of the impact of election integrity on democratic accountability.

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  • Ofosu, George Kwaku, 2019. "Do Fairer Elections Increase the Responsiveness of Politicians?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(4), pages 963-979, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:113:y:2019:i:4:p:963-979_6
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy Bowles & Benjamin Marx, 2022. "Turnover and Accountability in Africa's Parliaments," Working Papers hal-03873800, HAL.
    2. Garcia-Hernandez, Ana & Grossman, Guy & Michelitch, Kristin Grace, 2022. "Networks and the Size of the Gender Gap in Politician Performance Across Job Duties," OSF Preprints j7zg2, Center for Open Science.
    3. Gelvez, Juan David, 2024. "Coca Politics: Electoral Accountability and Tough-on-Crime Policies in Colombia," OSF Preprints yn9rz, Center for Open Science.
    4. Garcia-Hernandez, Ana & Grossman, Guy & Michelitch, Kristin, 2022. "Gender gap in politician performance and its determinants," Ruhr Economic Papers 972, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    5. Wittels, Annabelle Sophie, 2020. "The effect of politician-constituent conflict on bureaucratic responsiveness under varying information frames," SocArXiv 4x8q2, Center for Open Science.

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