CONFLICT OF INTEREST, POLICY EFFECTIVENESS, AND ELECTORAL SUPPORT: EVIDENCE FROM A SURVEY EXPERIMENT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2023-1-30-38Keywords:
conflict of interest; corruption; electoral support; candidate positioning; experimental design; comparison of means; causal analysisAbstract
The article is devoted to the study of the influence of the facts of conflict of interest on the electoral support of politicians. To identify causality in the Russian sample, a vignette experiment was conducted, in which respondents received various facts about the biography of candidates. Respondents were asked to answer questions about the attractiveness of politicians and the potential desire to vote for them based on the information received. According to the results of the study, it was found that the disclosure of the facts of the existence of a conflict of interest has a direct impact on the level of support for candidates in individual cases. The effect is significant if the politician has previously demonstrated high performance in the implementation of socio-economic policy. On the contrary, potential voters turned out to be tolerant of information about a conflict of interest in case of inefficiency of politicians in previous periods. The empirical results obtained are partially consistent with previous experiments in other countries and contribute to the discussion about building the election campaign of incumbents. Separately, the article highlights the methodological features of conducting experiments in the social sciences, including the potential limitations imposed by the chosen design on the interpretation of the empirical results obtained.References
Седашов, Е. А. (2021) ‘Методы каузального анализа в современной политической науке’, Политическая наука, 1, сс. 98‒115. [Sedashov, E. A. (2021) ‘Meth-ods of causal analysis in modern political science’ [Metody kauzal'nogo analiza v sovremennoj politicheskoj nauke], Politicheskaya nauka, 1, pр. 98‒115 (In Russ)].
Adcock, R., & Collier, D. (2001) ‘Measurement validity: A shared standard for qualitative and quantitative research’, American political science review, 95(3), рp. 529‒546.
Agerberg, M. (2020) ‘The lesser evil? Corruption voting and the importance of clean alternatives’, Comparative Political Stud-ies, 53(2), pр. 253‒287.
Alessandro, M., Lagomarsino, B. C., Scartascini, C., Streb, J., Torrealday, J. (2021) ‘Transparency and trust in government. Evidence from a survey experi-ment’, World Development, 138, pр. 105‒223.
Banuri, S., & Eckel, C. (2012) Experiments in culture and corruption: A review. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Buchanan, B., Bastian, M., Chrulew, M. (2018) ‘Introduction: Field philosophy and other experiments’, Parallax, 24(4), рp. 383‒391.
Correa, H. (1985) ‘A comparative study of bureaucratic corruption in Latin America and the USA’, Socioeconomic planning sciences, 19(1), pр. 63‒79.
Dunning, T. (2012) Natural experiments in the social sciences: a designbased approach. Cambridge University Press.
Ferrer, S. (2020) ‘Responsibility attribution for corruption scandals’, Local government studies, 46(1), pр. 22‒43.
Gupta, M. S. (1998) Does corruption affect income inequality and poverty? Internation-al Monetary Fund.
Gylfason, T. (2001) ‘Nature, power and growth’, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 48(5), рp. 558‒588.
Habib, M., Zurawicki, L. (2001) ‘Country-level investments and the effect of corrup-tion—some empirical evi-dence’, International Business Re-view, 10(6), pр. 687‒700.
Hacking, I. (1983) Representing and intervening: Introductory topics in the philosophy of natural science. Cambridge university press.
Ionescu, L. (2015) ‘Why do electors support cor-rupt politicians?’, Economics, Manage-ment, and Financial Markets, 10(4), pр. 61‒68.
Kaufmann, D. (2005) ‘Myths and realities of governance and corruption’, Available at: SSRN 829244.
Klašnja, M., Tucker, J. A. (2013) ‘The economy, corruption, and the vote: Evidence from experiments in Sweden and Moldo-va’, Electoral Studies, 32(3), pр. 536‒543.
Larbi, G. A. (2007) ‘Between spin and reality: Examining disclosure practices in three African countries’, Public Administration and Development: The International Jour-nal of Management Research and Practice, 27(3), pр. 205‒214.
Laurent, H. (2021) ‘Corruption and politicians’ horizon’, Economics of Governance, 22(1), рp. 65‒91.
Lien, D. H. D. (1990) ‘Corruption and allocation efficiency’, Journal of development economics, 33(1), pр. 153‒164.
Posner, D. N. (2004) ‘The political salience of cultural difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas are allies in Zambia and adversaries in Malawi’, American Political Science Review, 98(4), pр. 529‒545.
Reid, J. D., Kurth, M. M. (1989) ‘Public employees in political firms: Part B. Civil service and militancy’, Public choice, 60(1), pр. 41‒54.
Rose-Ackerman, S. (1975) ‘The economics of corruption’, Journal of public economics, 4(2), рp. 187‒203.
Sands, B. N. (1990) ‘Decentralizing an economy: The role of bureaucratic corruption in China's economic reforms’, PublicChoice, pр. 85‒91.
Sundström, A. (2019) ‘Why do people pay bribes? A survey experiment with resource users’, Social Science Quarterly, 100(3), рp. 725‒735.
Tantardini, M., Garcia-Zamor, J. C. (2015) ‘Organizational social capital and anticorruption policies: An exploratory analysis’, Public Organization Review, 15(4), рp. 599‒609.
Wade, R. (1985) ‘The market for public office: Why the Indian state is not better at development’, World Development, 13(4), pр. 467‒497.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The author grants the Publisher of the journal (Perm State University) the right to use their article in the journal, as well as to include the text of the abstract, the full text of the article and information about authors in the "Russian Science Citation Index" (RSCI).
The author agrees to the processing of personal data.
The right to use the journal as a whole belongs to the Publisher and acts indefinitely on the territory of the Russian Federation and beyond in accordance with cl. 1260 of the Russian Federation Civil Code.
There is no author's fee paid for providing the above rights by the author.
The author of the article included in the journal retains the exclusive right to it, regardless of the Publisher's right to use the journal as a whole:
a. The authors retain their copyrights to the article and transfer the right of the first publication along with the article to the journal, while also licensing it on the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to distribute this article with the obligatory indication of authorship of the article and reference to the original publication in this journal.
b. The authors retain the right to enter into separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive dissemination of the version of the text published by this journal (for example, post it in a university archive or publish it in a book), with reference to the original publication in this journal.
c. d. Authors are allowed to post their text on the Internet (for example, in a university archive or on their personal website) before and during the review process by this journal, as this can lead to a fruitful discussion and to higher number of the references to this published work (Please refer to The Effect of Open Access).
Submission of an article by the author implies that they agree for it to be used by the Publisher on the above conditions and to be included in the RSCI system. It also implicates that the author is aware of the terms of its use. The information about the author sent to the Publisher, including by e-mail, is also considered as such consent.
The editorial board posts the full text of the article on the Perm State University site: http://www.psu.ru and in the OJS system at http://press.psu.ru
The publication fee is not collected and fees are not paid. The author's copy is sent to the author to the address provided by them.
