The Executive Dilemma: Bargaining for Education in Decentralized Brazil

• In Event: Frontiers of Research on Bureaucratic Politics and Management Mini-Conference: Patronage

Abstract

Why do politicians engage in patronage? What are its consequences for public service delivery? I find that staff turnover in educational staff results from mayors attempt to exchange public sector jobs for support from local legislators. Leveraging extensive fieldwork and administrative data, I demonstrate that mayors with a weaker hold on the local legislature resort to patronage to co-opt legislators. Educational staff turnover has negative downstream effects on student learning, but limited electoral backlash. Weak electoral accountability channels suggests that patronage is primarily a political elite game, with little involvement by local constituencies. These findings point to the dangers of elite capture of public services and its downstream consequences for social welfare.

Author

• Galileu Kim, Princeton University