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Publicising Malfeasance: When the Local Media Structure Facilitates Electoral Accountability in Mexico

Author

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  • Horacio Larreguy
  • John Marshall
  • James M SnyderJr.

Abstract

Malfeasance in local governments is common in developing democracies. Electoral accountability could mitigate such malfeasance, but may require media market structures that incentivise profit-maximising local media to report on incumbent malfeasance. We test this claim in Mexico, leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in the pre-election release of municipal audits revealing misallocated spending and access to broadcast media. We find that each additional local media station amplifies voter punishment (rewards) of high (zero) malfeasance by up to 1 percentage point. Local media’s accountability-enhancing effects are greater when there are fewer non-local competitors and where local outlets’ audiences principally reside within their municipality.

Suggested Citation

  • Horacio Larreguy & John Marshall & James M SnyderJr., 2020. "Publicising Malfeasance: When the Local Media Structure Facilitates Electoral Accountability in Mexico," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(631), pages 2291-2327.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:130:y:2020:i:631:p:2291-2327.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueaa046
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    Cited by:

    1. Cox, Loreto & Eyzaguirre, Sylvia & Gallego, Francisco A. & García, Maximiliano, 2024. "Punishing mayors who fail the test: How do voters respond to information about educational outcomes?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Aycinena, Diego & Elbittar, Alexander & Gomberg, Andrei & Rentschler, Lucas, 2023. "Does free information provision crowd out costly information acquisition? It's a matter of timing," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 182-195.
    3. Di Tella, Rafael & Galiani, Sebastian & Schargrodsky, Ernesto, 2021. "Persuasive propaganda during the 2015 Argentine Ballotage," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 885-900.
    4. Ajzenman, Nicolas & Dominguez-Rivera, Patricio & Undurraga, Raimundo, 2021. "Immigration, Crime, and Crime (Mis)Perceptions," IZA Discussion Papers 14087, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. David Kreitmeir & Nathan Lane & Paul A. Raschky, 2020. "The Value of Names - Civil Society, Information, and Governing Multinationals on the Global Periphery," SoDa Laboratories Working Paper Series 2020-10, Monash University, SoDa Laboratories.
    6. Mathias Bühler & Andrew Dickens & Andrew C. Dickens, 2024. "From Couch to Poll: Media Content and the Value of Local Information," CESifo Working Paper Series 10959, CESifo.
    7. Leon-Ciliotta, Gianmarco & Zejcirovic, Dijana & Fernández Bazán, Fernando, 2022. "Policy-Making, Trust and the Demand for Public Services: Evidence from a Mass Sterilizations Campaign," CEPR Discussion Papers 17361, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Schechter, Laura & Vasudevan, Srinivasan, 2023. "Persuading voters to punish corrupt vote-buying candidates: Experimental evidence from a large-scale radio campaign in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    9. Gelvez, Juan David, 2024. "Coca Politics: Electoral Accountability and Tough-on-Crime Policies in Colombia," OSF Preprints yn9rz, Center for Open Science.
    10. Miriam Venturini, 2023. "The Imperfect Union: Labor Racketeering, Corruption Exposure, and Its Consequences," Working Papers 202407, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    11. Jia, Zhehao & Li, Donghui & Shi, Yukun & Xing, Lu, 2023. "Firm-level media news, bank loans, and the role of institutional environments," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

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