Politician Family Networks and Electoral Outcomes: Evidence from the Philippines
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 10, October 2017
(pp. 3006-37)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
We demonstrate the importance of politician social networks for electoral outcomes. Using large-scale data on family networks from over 20 million individuals in 15,000 villages in the Philippines, we show that candidates for public office are disproportionately drawn from more central families and family network centrality contributes to higher vote shares during the elections. Consistent with our theory of political intermediation, we present evidence that family network centrality facilitates relationships of political exchange. Moreover, we show that family networks exercise an effect independent of wealth, historical elite status, or previous electoral success.Citation
Cruz, Cesi, Julien Labonne, and Pablo Querubín. 2017. "Politician Family Networks and Electoral Outcomes: Evidence from the Philippines." American Economic Review, 107 (10): 3006-37. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150343Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D85 Network Formation and Analysis: Theory
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification