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Liberals, Socialists, and pork-barrel politics in Greece

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  • Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
  • Yannis Psycharis
  • Vassilis Tselios

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of pork-barrel politics in the allocation of public investment expenditures in Greece. It proposes a model which explicitly relates the allocation of public investment to electoral results using a unique dataset covering the period from the restoration of democracy in 1974 until 2009, just before the Great Recession that radically transformed the political panorama of the country. The analysis includes 10 legislative periods marked by governments of the two parties that dominated the political arena in Greece: the Liberal and the Socialist Party. The results show that Socialist and re-elected governments applied more expansionary fiscal policies relative to Liberals. The two main parties also used different tactics when it came to pork-barrelling: while the Socialists when in government rewarded/groomed their electoral fiefs, the Liberals invested in areas controlled by the opposition to win over new votes or seats.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Yannis Psycharis & Vassilis Tselios, 2016. "Liberals, Socialists, and pork-barrel politics in Greece," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(8), pages 1473-1492, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:48:y:2016:i:8:p:1473-1492
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X16646372
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public investment; pork-barrel politics; elections; regional policy; Greece;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures

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