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Cover von: Legend of the Pork Barrel? The Causal Effect of Legislature Size on Public Spending
Carolin Holzmann, Orlando Zaddach

Legend of the Pork Barrel? The Causal Effect of Legislature Size on Public Spending

Rubrik: Articles
Jahrgang 75 (2019) / Heft 1, S. 39-58 (20)
Publiziert 21.12.2018
DOI 10.1628/fa-2018-0024
Veröffentlicht auf Englisch.
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Beschreibung
This paper investigates pork-barrel spending, the inefficient effect of legislature size on public spending, in at-large electoral systems. Using a rich panel-data set on German municipalities whose councils are elected at large, we employ a regression discontinuity design to estimate the causal effect of legislature size of public spending. The empirical results indicate that the pork-barrel effect in at-large electoral systems is of very small economic magnitude. This finding is in line with the theoretical prediction of a zero effect, but is in sharp contrast to previously published estimates in the literature that commonly support a positive pork-barrel spending effect.