Research Insights: How Do Elections Affect Policy Outcomes?
The opportunity to run for reelection provides a significant incentive for incumbent U.S. governors to exert effort, creating a disciplining effect. This improves policy outcomes by 4.9 percent. Reelected governors are more aligned with voters than non-reelected governors, meaning that elections induce a selection effect. This selection improves policy outcomes by 2.9 percent. The widely used two-term election regime improves voter welfare by 4.2 percent compared to a one-term regime. Better voter information about governor effort further increases voter welfare by up to 0.5 percent.
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| Language: | English |
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Inter-American Development Bank
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| Subjects: | Public Policy, Elections, Policy Making, D73 - Bureaucracy • Administrative Processes in Public Organizations • Corruption, D72 - Political Processes: Rent-Seeking Lobbying Elections Legislatures and Voting Behavior, H70 - State and Local Government • Intergovernmental Relations: General, C57 - Econometrics of Games and Auctions, |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0002765 https://publications.iadb.org/en/research-insights-how-do-elections-affect-policy-outcomes |
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| Summary: | The opportunity to run for reelection provides a significant incentive for incumbent U.S. governors to exert effort, creating a disciplining effect. This improves policy outcomes by 4.9 percent. Reelected governors are more aligned with voters than non-reelected governors, meaning that elections induce a selection effect. This selection improves policy outcomes by 2.9 percent. The widely used two-term election regime improves voter welfare by 4.2 percent compared to a one-term regime. Better voter information about governor effort further increases voter welfare by up to 0.5 percent. |
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