Distributive politics and spatial equity: the allocation of public investment in Chile

This paper analyzes the influence of electoral concerns on investment distribution from the central government to Chilean municipalities. Drawing upon panel data, the paper shows that investment is mediated by pork-barrel and political budget cycles, as well as favouring the relatively better-off ar...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Livert Aquino, Felipe Bernabé, Gainza Barrencua, Xabier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/72955
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/72955
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:distributive politics
pork-barrel
political budget cycle
equity-efficiency trade-off
regional governance
Chile
Descripción
Sumario:This paper analyzes the influence of electoral concerns on investment distribution from the central government to Chilean municipalities. Drawing upon panel data, the paper shows that investment is mediated by pork-barrel and political budget cycles, as well as favouring the relatively better-off areas. Estimations also reveal that resources are channelled to the municipalities where the vote margin in local elections is larger whereas national results are not relevant, indicating that local governments’ lobbying capacity is prioritized over national electoral interests. Based on these results, the implications for regional governance and for reducing the margin of arbitrary allocations are discussed.