Targeting voters and public good preferences
by Mardones, Felipe, Ph.D., THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 2007, 57 pages; 3287057

Abstract:

This paper considers a world where politicians have two policy instruments: the provision of an indivisible public good and redistribution. It studies the effect of heterogeneity in preferences for the public good on the incentives of politicians to target transfers to voters through redistribution. It is demonstrated that in equilibrium voters who have a low intensity of preference for the public good get higher average transfers than high intensity voters. This is explained by the fact that low intensity voters face a lower opportunity cost of not getting the public good, so their votes are cheaper to obtain when a redistributing candidate competes against a candidate who proposes the public good. Consequently, candidates allocate more resources towards obtaining these cheaper votes.

 
AdvisersHugo Sonnenschein; Roger Myerson
SchoolTHE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
SourceDAI/A 68-10, p. , Feb 2008
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsEconomic theory; Political Science
Publication Number3287057
Adobe PDF Access the complete dissertation:
 

» Find an electronic copy at your library.
  Use the link below to access a full citation record of this graduate work:
  http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl%3furl_ver=Z39.88-2004%26res_dat=xri:pqdiss%26rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation%26rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3287057
  If your library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database, you may be entitled to a free electronic version of this graduate work. If not, you will have the option to purchase one, and access a 24 page preview for free (if available).

About ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
With over 2.3 million records, the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world. It is the database of record for graduate research.

The database includes citations of graduate works ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. Of the 2.3 million graduate works included in the database, ProQuest offers more than 1.9 million in full text formats. Of those, over 860,000 are available in PDF format. More than 60,000 dissertations and theses are added to the database each year.

If you have questions, please feel free to visit the ProQuest Web site - http://www.proquest.com - or call ProQuest Hotline Customer Support at 1-800-521-3042.