Article

Pandering and Pork-Barrel Politics

Eric Maskin et Jean Tirole

Résumé

We develop a model of pork-barrel politics in which a government official tries to improve her reelection chances by spending on targeted interest groups. The spending signals that she shares their concerns. We investigate the effect of such pandering on the public deficit. Pandering widens the deficit relative to a non-accountable official (one who does not have to run for reelection) if either the official’s overall spending propensity is known, or if it is unknown but the effect of spending on the deficit is opaque to voters. By contrast, an unknown spending propensity may induce the elected official to exhibit fiscal discipline if the deficit is transparent.

Mots-clés

Accountability; pandering; deficit bias; redistributive politics; budget caps;

Codes JEL

  • H1: Structure and Scope of Government
  • H7: State and Local Government • Intergovernmental Relations
  • K4: Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

Référence

Eric Maskin et Jean Tirole, « Pandering and Pork-Barrel Politics », Journal of Public Economics, vol. 176, août 2019, p. 79–93.

Publié dans

Journal of Public Economics, vol. 176, août 2019, p. 79–93