The Costs of Electoral Accountability: How Political Turnover Disrupts the Bureaucracy and Service Delivery

• In Event: The Politics of Patronage and Public Service Delivery in Developing Countries: Evidence from Ghana, India, Indonesia and Brazil

Brief Overview

This paper considers the effect of electoral turnover on public sector hiring and service delivery. It shows that mayors who lose the re-election fire temporary employees and hire civil service employees, while healthcare delivery declines.

Author

• Guillermo Toral, Massachusetts Institute of Technology