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Eat Widely, Vote Wisely? Lessons from a Campaign Against Vote Buying in Uganda

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Listed:
  • Blattman, Christopher

    (University of Chicago)

  • Larreguy, Horacio
  • Marx, Benjamin
  • Reid, Otis

Abstract

We study a large-scale intervention designed by civil society organizations to reduce vote buying in Uganda’s 2016 elections. We study this intervention in light of a model where incumbents benefit from a first-mover and valence advantage, vote buying and campaigning are complementary, and voter reciprocity increases the effectiveness of vote buying. The intervention undermined reciprocity as well as the valence advantage of incumbents. As a result, challengers not only campaigned more intensively but also bought more votes in treated locations. Consistent with incumbents being first movers in markets for votes and facing more frictions to adjust their strategies than challengers, their response to the intervention was limited. The intervention ultimately failed to reduce vote buying, but led to short-run electoral gains for challengers and increased service delivery in treated locations.

Suggested Citation

  • Blattman, Christopher & Larreguy, Horacio & Marx, Benjamin & Reid, Otis, 2019. "Eat Widely, Vote Wisely? Lessons from a Campaign Against Vote Buying in Uganda," SocArXiv u34pr_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:u34pr_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/u34pr_v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja, 2017. "Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1535-1563, June.
    2. Pedro C. Vicente, 2014. "Is Vote Buying Effective? Evidence from a Field Experiment in West Africa," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(574), pages 356-387, February.
    3. Jeremy Bowles & Horacio Larreguy & Shelley Liu, 2020. "How Weakly Institutionalized Parties Monitor Brokers in Developing Democracies: Evidence from Postconflict Liberia," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 952-967, October.
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