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Harvesting Votes: The Electoral Effects of the Italian Land Reform

Author

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  • Bruno Caprettini

    (Universität St. Gallen - School of Economics and Political Sciences Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research)

  • Lorenzo Casaburi

    (Universität Zürich - Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakutält)

  • Miriam Venturini

    (Department of Economics, University of California Riverside)

Abstract

Governments often implement large-scale redistribution policies to gain enduring political support. However, little is known on whether such policies generate sizable gains, whether these gains are persistent, and why. We study the political consequences of a major land reform in Italy. A panel spatial regression discontinuity design shows that the reform generated large electoral gains for the incumbent Christian Democratic party. The electoral effects persist over four decades. We explore several channels and find that clientelist brokering and patronage are plausible mechanisms for this persistence.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Caprettini & Lorenzo Casaburi & Miriam Venturini, 2023. "Harvesting Votes: The Electoral Effects of the Italian Land Reform," Working Papers 202408, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucr:wpaper:202408
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    Cited by:

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    2. Acemoglu, Daron & Pekkarinen, Tuomas & Salvanes, Kjell G. & Sarvimäki, Matti, 2021. "The Making of Social Democracy: The Economic and Electoral Consequences of Norway’s 1936 Folk School Reform," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 14/2021, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    3. Felix Kersting, 2023. "Mimicking the Opposition: Bismarck's Welfare State and the Rise of the Socialists," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 448, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    4. Felix Kersting, 2022. "Welfare Reform and Repression in an Autocracy: Bismarck and the Socialists," Working Papers 0227, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    redistribution; voting; clientelism; land reform; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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