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A market for connections

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  • Miettinen, Topi
  • Poutvaara, Panu

Abstract

Government or company decisions on whom to hire or whom to give a contract are mostly delegated to politicians, public sector officials or human resource and procurement managers. Due to anti-corruption laws, agents cannot sell contracts that they are delegated to decide upon. Even if bribing is ruled out, those interested in the spoils may invest in a good relationship with the deciding agents in order to be remembered when the decision is made. In this paper, we analyze such markets for connections in the presence of convex costs of networking.

Suggested Citation

  • Miettinen, Topi & Poutvaara, Panu, 2014. "A market for connections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 37-52.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:33:y:2014:i:c:p:37-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.11.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Itkonen, Juha, 2017. "Efficiency and dependency in a network of linked permit markets," Research Discussion Papers 20/2017, Bank of Finland.
    2. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political Connections and Related Party Transactions: Evidence from Indonesia," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 45-63.
    3. Habib, Ahsan & Ranasinghe, Dinithi & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Islam, Ainul, 2018. "Political connections, financial reporting and auditing: Survey of the empirical literature," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 37-51.
    4. Miroslav Palanský, 2021. "The value of political connections in the post-transition period: evidence from Czechia," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 121-154, July.
    5. Miettinen, Topi & Poutvaara, Panu, 2015. "Parties as efficiency-improving gatekeepers in rent-seeking societies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 87-101.
    6. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2017_020 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Schlecht, Laura & Schneider, Sabrina & Buchwald, Arne, 2021. "The prospective value creation potential of Blockchain in business models: A delphi study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    8. Jacques Simon Song, 2021. "Le rôle des clivages des partis politiques dans le renforcement de la démocratie en Afrique," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(1), pages 91-103, March.
    9. Dong, Zhiqiang & Wang, Xiaobing & Zhang, Tianhua & Zhong, Yuejun, 2022. "The effects of local government leadership turnover on entrepreneurial behavior," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Budi Wahyono, 2023. "Do political connections affect the market reaction to firms’ inclusion in or exclusion from the Sharia index?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(4), pages 835-854, December.
    11. Tariq H. Ismail & Mohamed El-Deeb & Yasser Tawfik Halim, 2022. "Do related party transactions affect the relationship between political connections and firm value? Evidence from Egypt," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    12. Itkonen, Juha, 2017. "Efficiency and dependency in a network of linked permit markets," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 20/2017, Bank of Finland.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Procurement; Nominations; Rent-seeking; Networks; Politicians;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • H57 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Procurement

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