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Birthplace favoritism and the distribution of budget amendments in Brazil: Evidence from nondistrict elections

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  • Mattos, Enlinson
  • Politi, Ricardo
  • Morata, Rodrigo

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate whether federal deputies in Brazil display birthplace favoritism in allocating discretionary resources to municipalities via budgetary amendments. The data include information on three electoral cycles and on more than five thousand municipalities. Unlike previous research, we match data on an elected deputy’s share of votes by municipality and the value of the legislative amendments per capita obtained for each municipality by that deputy. Our results suggest that although resource distribution through amendments is smaller than targeted pork spending, birthplace favoritism is still an important driver of local politicians’ behavior. On average, when a Brazilian municipality is the place of birth of a deputy, it obtains 8.7% more amendments per capita than its counterparts. Additionally, our findings suggest that some deputies display birthplace favoritism because they plan to run for mayor in their hometown in subsequent elections.

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  • Mattos, Enlinson & Politi, Ricardo & Morata, Rodrigo, 2021. "Birthplace favoritism and the distribution of budget amendments in Brazil: Evidence from nondistrict elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:68:y:2021:i:c:s0176268020301373
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101989
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    Cited by:

    1. Resce, Giuliano & Vaquero-Piñeiro, Cristina, 2023. "Taste of home: Birth town bias in Geographical Indications," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp23089, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    2. Resce, Giuliano & Vaquero-Piñeiro, Cristina, 2024. "Political favouritism and inefficient management: Policy-makers’ birth town bias in EU quality certifications," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 683-702.
    3. Fernando Antonio Ignacio González & Lara Sofia Cantero & Pablo Ariel Szyszko, 2022. "Favoritismo Regional en Argentina," Working Papers 199, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    4. Fernando Antonio Ignacio González & Lara Sofía Cantero & Pablo Ariel Szyszko, 2023. "Inequality and economic activity under regional favoritism: evidence from Argentina," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 43(2), pages 343-361, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Birthplace favoritism; Pork barrel; Budget amendments; Local politics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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