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Political competition and candidate selection in Brazilian municipalities

Author

Listed:
  • Sávio L. C. Oliveira

    (Federal University of Paraíba)

  • Wallace Patrick S. F. Souza

    (Federal Univesity of Paraíba)

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between political competition and the quality of candidates and elected politicians. We use the effective number of candidates for measuring electoral competition, and the level of education for measuring the quality of politicians. By employing an instrumental variable approach, we find that greater electoral competition increases the proportion of elected mayors, mayoral candidates, elected councilors and council candidates that are college educated. In contrast, it decreases the participation and the performance of women in politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Sávio L. C. Oliveira & Wallace Patrick S. F. Souza, 2022. "Political competition and candidate selection in Brazilian municipalities," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(2), pages 1171-1179.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00251
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political Competition; Political Selection; Instrumental Variables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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    Access and download statistics

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