How Do Violent Politicians Govern? The Case of Paramilitary-Tied Mayors in Colombia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Sarah Zukerman Daly
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Crowding Out ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Quality Of Governance ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract How do politicians with coercive linkages govern? This article relies on original data on militia-linked mayors in Colombia from 1988 to 2015 derived from 42,000 pages of Colombian Supreme Court sentencing documents. Using a regression discontinuity design, it examines the governance records of militia-tied mayors who won the elections by a narrow margin. It finds that being ruled by a militia-linked mayor significantly reduces levels of insecurity and crime, but has pernicious effects on the provision of other public goods, especially education. I theorize that these politicians' (perverse) comparative advantage on security, combined with their crowding out of social spending, engenders these outcomes. I evaluate these mechanisms with data on the nature of paramilitary–mayor alliances, police reinforcements, municipal budgets, politicians' Twitter feeds, and in-depth interviews with paramilitary commanders and politicians. The article has implications for understanding the effects of voting for politicians with coercive ties on the quality of governance and democracy.

scholarly journals Place-Based Policies and the Housing Market

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans R. A. Koster ◽  
Jos van Ommeren
Keyword(s):  
Housing Market ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Housing Prices ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Fuzzy Regression ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design

We study the economic effects of place-based policies in the housing market, by investigating the effects of a place-based program on prices of surrounding owner-occupied properties. The program improved the quality of public housing in 83 impoverished neighborhoods throughout the Netherlands. We combine a first-difference approach with a fuzzy regression-discontinuity design to address the fundamental issue that these neighborhoods are endogenously treated. Improvements in public housing induced surrounding housing prices to increase by 3.5%. The program's external benefits are sizable and at least half of the value of investments in public housing.

scholarly journals ELECTORAL LOYALTY AND QUALITY OF SERVICE DELIVERY IN RUSSIAN MUNICIPALITIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 62-75
Author(s):  
Margarita Zavadskaya ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Administrative Practices ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Quality Of Governance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Election Commission ◽  
Analysis Point

Local self-government in Russia has undergone a number of transformations - from spontaneous decentralization in the 1990s until the stage-by-stage integration into the state vertical system from 2003-2006. Despite the de facto loss of political and, partly, administrative autonomy, we see a huge diversity in the quality of governance and provision of public goods at the local level. Based on the Database of Municipalities' Characteristics (DMC) of Rosstat from 2008 to 2017 and data from the Central Election Commission (CEC of the Russian Federation), the article presents indices of the quality of the provision of public goods and analyzes the relationship with the Duma voting in 2016 and the budgetary autonomy of the municipality. Despite the continuing centralization of government, researchers still observe an impressive variation in both the formats of political competition and administrative practices in the regions, especially at the local level. The results of the analysis point to a number of patterns: 1. There is no strong link between budget independence and the quality of management; 2. Securing votes does not lead to the attraction of additional resources to the field and may even divert scarce funds and the human resources to technically support this loyalty.

MPs for Sale? Returns to Office in Postwar British Politics

2009 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW C. EGGERS ◽  
JENS HAINMUELLER
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Original Data ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Publicly Traded ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Financial Benefits

Many recent studies show that firms profit from connections to influential politicians, but less is known about how much politicians financially benefit from wielding political influence. We estimate the returns to serving in Parliament, using original data on the estates of recently deceased British politicians. Applying both matching and a regression discontinuity design to compare Members of Parliament (MPs) with parliamentary candidates who narrowly lost, we find that serving in office almost doubled the wealth of Conservative MPs, but had no discernible financial benefits for Labour MPs. Conservative MPs profited from office largely through lucrative outside employment they acquired as a result of their political positions; we show that gaining a seat in Parliament more than tripled the probability that a Conservative politician would later serve as a director of a publicly traded firm—enough to account for a sizable portion of the wealth differential. We suggest that Labour MPs did not profit from office largely because trade unions collectively exerted sufficient control over the party and its MPs to prevent members from selling their services to other clients.

scholarly journals The Political Resource Curse

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (5) ◽  
pp. 1759-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Brollo ◽  
Tommaso Nannicini ◽  
Roberto Perotti ◽  
Guido Tabellini
Keyword(s):  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Municipal Governments ◽  
Agency Model ◽  
Political Resource ◽  
Average Education

This paper studies the effect of additional government revenues on political corruption and on the quality of politicians, both with theory and data. The theory is based on a political agency model with career concerns and endogenous entry of candidates. The data refer to Brazil, where federal transfers to municipal governments change exogenously at given population thresholds, allowing us to implement a regression discontinuity design. The empirical evidence shows that larger transfers increase observed corruption and reduce the average education of candidates for mayor. These and other more specific empirical results are in line with the predictions of the theory. (JEL D72, D73, H77, O17, O18)

Quality of Governance at the Communal Level in Poland: an Exploratory Study of the Worst Performer Case From the Opolskie Province

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-55
Author(s):  
Bartosz Czepil
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Quality Level ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Major Conclusion ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Quality Of Governance ◽  
Governance Quality

The objective of this paper is an attempt to explain the determinants of the lowest governance quality level in one of the communes of the Opolskie Province, Poland. The first stage of the research consisted in developing a commune-level governance quality index in order to measure the quality of governance in the 60 communes of the Opolskie Province. Subsequently, the commune with the lowest score in the index was qualified for the second stage of the research which was based on the extreme case method. The major conclusion from the research is that the commune leader's governance style which allowed him to hold on to power for many terms of office was responsible for generating low governance quality. Furthermore, the low quality of governance was not only the effect of the governance style but also the strategy aimed at remaining in the commune leader office for many terms.

DAYA SAING EKSPOR PRODUK CPO INDONESIA DAN POTENSI HILIRISASI DIOLAH MENJADI BIODIESEL

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danar Agus Susanto
Keyword(s):  
Palm Oil ◽  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Global Market ◽  
National Standard ◽  
Revealed Comparative Advantage ◽  
Crude Palm Oil ◽  
A Value ◽  
World Demand ◽  
Domestic Use

ABSTRACTIndonesia is the world's largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO). Even so, the trend of international trade in Indonesian CPO products has decreased in the last 10 years with a value of -10.19%. The decline in world demand for CPO can be dealt with by utilizing CPO as a biofuel for domestic use, like biodiesel. The purpose of this study is to determine the competitiveness of Indonesian CPO in global trade and determine the parameters of the quality requirements of CPO and biodiesel. The competitiveness analysis method uses the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) method, while the analysis of the potential quality of CPO as a biofuel is carried out by analyzing the Indonesian National Standard (SNI). CPO trade in the global market is controlled by Indonesia with a market share of 50% and Malaysia 25.6%, with the declining trade trend in the last 10 years relatively (2010-2019) of -6.91%. The level of competitiveness of Indonesian CPO products in 2019 is very strong, but on average in the last 10 years, the level of competitiveness of Indonesian CPO is no better than that of Malaysia. Indonesia has SNI 01-2901-2006 and SNI 7182: 2015 as a determinant of the quality of CPO and biodiesel products developed in Indonesia so that the CPO and biodiesel produced fullfil sacurity and safety aspects when used by consumers.Keywords: crude palm oil (CPO), competitivenessv, quality, Indonesian National Standard (SNI) ABSTRAKIndonesia merupakan negara produsen minyak kelapa sawit mentah/ Crude Palm Oil (CPO) terbesar di dunia. Meskipun demikian, tren perdagangan internasional produk CPO Indonesia mengalami penurunan dalam sepuluh tahun terakhir dengan nilai -10,19%. Penurunan permintaan dunia terhadap CPO, dapat disiasati dengan memanfaatkan CPO sebagai bahan bakar nabati untuk keperluan dalam negeri sebagai biodiesel. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui daya saing CPO Indonesia dalam perdagangan global dan mengetahui parameter persyaratan mutu CPO dan biodiesel. Metode analisis daya saing menggunakan metode Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), sedangkan analisis potensi kualitas CPO sebagai biofuel dilakukan dengan menganalisis Standar Nasional Indoensia (SNI). Perdagangan CPO dalam pasar global dikuasai oleh Indonesia dengan pangsa pasar 50% dan Malaysia 25,6%, dengan tren perdagangan relatif menurun dalam 10 tahun terakhir (2010-2019) sebesar -6,91%. Tingkat daya saing produk CPO Indonesia pada tahun 2019 sangat kuat, namun secara rata-rata dalam 10 tahun terakhir, tingkat daya saing CPO Indonesia tidak lebih baik dari Malaysia. Indonesia memiliki SNI 01-2901-2006 dan SNI 7182:2015 sebagai penentu kualitas produk CPO dan biodiesel yang dikembangkan di Indonesia, sehingga CPO dan biodiesel yang dihasilkan memenuhi aspek keamanan dan keselamatan ketika digunakan oleh konsumen.Kata kunci: crude palm oil (CPO), daya saing, kualitas, Standar Nasional Indonesia (SNI)

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