School performance and retrospective voting: Evidence from local elections in Denmark

TY - JOUR

T1 - School performance and retrospective voting

T2 - Evidence from local elections in Denmark

AU - Maaser, Nicola

AU - Štrobl, Martin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

PY - 2024/9

Y1 - 2024/9

N2 - In this paper, we investigate whether voters hold local politicians accountable for the performance of local schools. We examine this effect for the 2013 and 2017 Danish local elections using register data and polling station-level voting records. We find robust evidence of retrospective voting from pooled and fixed effects estimations. Exploiting the micro-level character of our data, we present evidence that higher-income citizens are more sensitive to changes in school performance, while other demographic and political characteristics do not appear to have mattered.

AB - In this paper, we investigate whether voters hold local politicians accountable for the performance of local schools. We examine this effect for the 2013 and 2017 Danish local elections using register data and polling station-level voting records. We find robust evidence of retrospective voting from pooled and fixed effects estimations. Exploiting the micro-level character of our data, we present evidence that higher-income citizens are more sensitive to changes in school performance, while other demographic and political characteristics do not appear to have mattered.

KW - Local elections

KW - Local government

KW - Retrospective voting

KW - School performance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164582681&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102426

DO - 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102426

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85164582681

SN - 0176-2680

VL - 84

JO - European Journal of Political Economy

JF - European Journal of Political Economy

M1 - 102426

ER -