Political Turnover, Bureaucratic Turnover, and the Quality of Public Services
American Economic Review
vol. 112,
no. 2, February 2022
(pp. 442-93)
Abstract
We study how political turnover in mayoral elections in Brazil affects public service provision by local governments. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design for close elections, we find that municipalities with a new party in office experience upheavals in the municipal bureaucracy: new personnel are appointed across multiple service sectors, and at both managerial and non-managerial levels. In education, the increase in the replacement rate of personnel in schools controlled by the municipal government is accompanied by test scores that are 0.05–0.08 standard deviations lower. In contrast, turnover of the mayor's party does not impact local (non-municipal) schools. These findings suggest that political turnover can adversely affect the quality of public services when the bureaucracy is not shielded from the political process.Citation
Akhtari, Mitra, Diana Moreira, and Laura Trucco. 2022. "Political Turnover, Bureaucratic Turnover, and the Quality of Public Services." American Economic Review, 112 (2): 442-93. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20171867Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D73 Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
- H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
- H76 State and Local Government: Other Expenditure Categories
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements