The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil
When firms give money to candidates for public office, what return can they expect on their investment? Prior studies have been inconclusive, due to both methodological challenges and unique features of the U.S. political context on which they have focused. Using data from Brazil, we employ a regres...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99693 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0237-5060 |
| _version_ | 1826211691392663552 |
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| author | Boas, Taylor C. Richardson, Neal P. Hidalgo, Fernando Daniel |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science Boas, Taylor C. Richardson, Neal P. Hidalgo, Fernando Daniel |
| author_sort | Boas, Taylor C. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | When firms give money to candidates for public office, what return can they expect on their investment? Prior studies have been inconclusive, due to both methodological challenges and unique features of the U.S. political context on which they have focused. Using data from Brazil, we employ a regression discontinuity design to identify the effect of an electoral victory on government contracts for a candidate’s corporate donors. Firms specializing in public works projects can expect a substantial boost in contracts—at least 14 times the value of their contributions—when they donate to a federal deputy candidate from the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) and that candidate wins office. We find no effects among allied parties, indicating that the PT prioritizes this form of state spending for party strengthening rather than coalition management. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:09:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/99693 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:09:59Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/996932022-10-02T01:00:47Z The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil Boas, Taylor C. Richardson, Neal P. Hidalgo, Fernando Daniel Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science Hidalgo, Fernando Daniel When firms give money to candidates for public office, what return can they expect on their investment? Prior studies have been inconclusive, due to both methodological challenges and unique features of the U.S. political context on which they have focused. Using data from Brazil, we employ a regression discontinuity design to identify the effect of an electoral victory on government contracts for a candidate’s corporate donors. Firms specializing in public works projects can expect a substantial boost in contracts—at least 14 times the value of their contributions—when they donate to a federal deputy candidate from the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) and that candidate wins office. We find no effects among allied parties, indicating that the PT prioritizes this form of state spending for party strengthening rather than coalition management. 2015-11-03T19:29:19Z 2015-11-03T19:29:19Z 2014-02 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0022-3816 1468-2508 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99693 Boas, Taylor C., F. Daniel Hidalgo, and Neal P. Richardson. “The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil.” The Journal of Politics 76, no. 02 (February 25, 2014): 415–429. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0237-5060 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S002238161300145X The Journal of Politics Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Hidalgo |
| spellingShingle | Boas, Taylor C. Richardson, Neal P. Hidalgo, Fernando Daniel The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil |
| title | The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil |
| title_full | The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil |
| title_fullStr | The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil |
| title_short | The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in Brazil |
| title_sort | spoils of victory campaign donations and government contracts in brazil |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99693 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0237-5060 |
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