@article{356e662c261b42838cc1b1fab1a403e1,
title = "Distributional consequences of political representation",
abstract = "We investigate, both theoretically and empirically, the effect of the geographic concentration of representatives on the geographic distribution of fiscal transfers. Our theoretical model predicts that more representatives residing in a geographic area leads to higher government funds to that area. Our empirical analysis uses the fact that in Germany, due to Germany[U+05F3]s electoral rules in state elections, the number of representatives varies across electoral districts. Controlling for various socio-economic, demographic, and political variables and using a variety of estimation methods, we find that districts with a greater number of representatives receive more government funds.",
keywords = "Comparative political economy, Redistribution, Representation, Transfers, Vote-buying",
author = "Nicola Maaser and Thomas Stratmann",
note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to the associate editor and two referees for their comments which substantially improved the paper. We would like to thank James Lake, Stefan Napel, Stefan Traub, Monika Turyna-K{\"o}ppl, and seminar participants in Bremen, Dresden, Hagen, Mannheim, at the 51st Meeting of the Public Choice Society, 23rd Silvaplana Workshop on Political Economy, George Mason University, Public Choice Research Centre Turku, UECE Lisbon Meetings – Game Theory and Applications 2013, and the 2014 meeting of the Verein f{\"u}r Socialpolitik for many helpful suggestions and discussions. Eleni Milona and Joschka Wanner provided excellent research assistance. We thank numerous contact persons from the Ministries of the Interior and from the Ministries of Finance of Bavaria, Lower Saxony and North-Rhine Westphalia for providing us with information about the allocation of state transfers. Part of this article was written while the first author was visiting the Public Choice Research Center at George Mason University, whose hospitality is gratefully acknowledged. This research received financial support from the German Research Foundation (Maaser, Grant no. MA-5085 ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 Elsevier B.V.",
year = "2016",
month = feb,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.euroecorev.2015.11.007",
language = "English",
volume = "82",
pages = "187--211",
journal = "European Economic Review",
issn = "0014-2921",
publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",
}