Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T11:11:25.668Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Do Local Public Spending Decisions Shape Corruption Perceptions? Evidence from Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2022

Theodore Kahn Open the ORCID record for Theodore Kahn [Opens in a new window]  and
Zack Zimbalist Open the ORCID record for Zack Zimbalist [Opens in a new window]
Theodore Kahn
Affiliation:
Theodore Kahn is a senior analyst for the Andean region at Control Risks, Bogotá, Colombia. theodore. kahn@controlrisks.com.
Zack Zimbalist
Affiliation:
Zack Zimbalist is a professor in the School of Social Sciences and Government at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico. z.zimbalist@tec.mx.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article studies how public investment and other types of spending by municipal governments shape perceptions of corruption in Mexico. We argue, drawing on various strands of literature, that investment in visible public works projects should lower corruption perceptions, given the well-known difficulties in directly observing corrupt acts. Contrary to our expectations and common assumptions in studies of public investment, we find that more public investment by municipal governments is associated, on average, with higher corruption perceptions. However, this effect is mediated by individuals’ education levels. For individuals with less formal education, higher public investment correlates with higher perceived corruption, while highly educated individuals perceive less corruption when municipal public investment is high. The study uses qualitative evidence from municipal audit reports to identify a possible mechanism driving this outcome: municipal investments may not be targeted to the poorer neighborhoods with greater public service deficits.

Keywords

Corruptioncorruption perceptionsMexicopublic goodspublic spending
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , August 2022 , pp. 67 - 92
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Conflicts of interest declaration: both authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

AmericasBarometer. 2018–19. Mexico Technical Information. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2018/AmericasBarometer_2018-19_Technical_Report_W_102919.pdf Google Scholar
Anduiza, Eva, Gallego, Aina, and Muñoz, Jordi. 2013. Turning a Blind Eye: Experimental Evidence of Partisan Bias in Attitudes Toward Corruption. Comparative Political Studies 46, 12: 1664–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arias, Eric, Larreguy, Horacio, Marshall, John, and Querubín, Pablo. 2018. Priors Rule: When do Malfeasance Revelations Help or Hurt Incumbent Parties? NBER Working Paper 24888. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w24888.Google Scholar
Auditoría Financiera y de Cumplimiento (ASF). 2011. Annual audit report. 11-D-02004-02-0854 GF-164. Tijuana: ASF.Google Scholar
Auditoría Financiera y de Cumplimiento (ASF). 2013. Annual audit report. 13-D-15104-02-1325 GF-325. Tlalnepantla de Baz: EDOMEX.Google Scholar
Banerjee, Abhijit, Kumar, Selvan, Pande, Rohini, and Su, Felix. 2011. Do Informed Voters Make Better Choices? Experimental Evidence from Urban India. Unpublished mss.Google Scholar
Block, Steven A. 2002. Political Business Cycles, Democratization, and Economic Reform: The Case of Africa. Journal of Development Economics 67, l: 205–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boas, Taylor, Hidalgo, Daniel, and Melo, Marcus A.. 2019. Norms versus Action: Why Voters Fail to Sanction Malfeasance in Brazil. American Journal of Political Science 63, 2: 385–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohn, Simone R. 2012. Corruption in Latin America: Understanding the Perception Exposure Gap. Journal of Politics in Latin America 4, 3: 67–95.Google Scholar
Chang, Eric C. C., and Kerr, Nicholas N.. 2017. An Insider-Outsider Theory of Popular Tolerance for Corrupt Politicians. Governance 30, 1: 67–84.Google Scholar
Chong, Alberto, Ana de la, O., Karlan, Dean, and Wantchekon, Leonard. 2015. Does Corruption Information Inspire the Fight or Quash the Hope? A Field Experiment in Mexico on Voter Turnout, Choice, and Party Identification. Journal of Politics 77, 1: 55–71.Google Scholar
Corbacho, Ana, Gingerich, Daniel W., Oliveros, Virginia, and Ruiz-Vega, Mauricio. 2016. Corruption as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Costa Rica. American Journal of Political Science 60, 4: 1077–1092.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donchev, Dilyan, and Ujhelyi, Gergely. 2014. What Do Corruption Indices Measure? Economics and Politics 26, 2: 309–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubois, Eric. 2016. Political Business Cycles 40 years After Nordhaus. Public Choice 166, 1: 235–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández-Vázquez, Pablo, Barberá, Pablo, and Rivero, Gonzalo. 2016. Rooting Out Corruption Or Rooting For Corruption? The Heterogeneous Electoral Consequences of Scandals. Political Science Research and Methods 4, 2: 379–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferraz, Claudio, and Finan, Frederico. 2008. Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil’s Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes. Quarterly Journal of Economics 123, 2: 703–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis. 2014. Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Goetz, Klaus H., Gonçalves Veiga, Linda, Efthyvoulou, Georgios, and Morozumi, Atsuyoshi. 2019. Political Budget Cycles: Conditioning Factors and New Evidence. In The Oxford Handbook of Time and Politics, ed. Klaus, H. Goetz. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grandet, Carlos, and Reséndiz, César. 2015. Corrupción en gobiernos municipales: el poder de la información. In La corrupción en México: transamos y no avanzamos, ed. Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad..Google Scholar
Grindle, Merilee S. 2007. Going Local: Decentralization, Democratization, and the Promise of Good Governance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gutmann, Jerg, Padovano, Fabio, and Voigt, Stefan. 2020. Perception vs. Experience: Explaining Differences in Corruption Measures Using Microdata. European Journal of Political Economy 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, Andrew F. 2006. A Primer on Multilevel Modeling. Human Communication Research 32, 4: 385–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicken, Allen. 2011. Clientelism. Annual Review of Political Science 14, 1: 289–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hox, Joop J, Moerbeek, Mirjam, and van de Schoot, Rens. 2010. Multilevel Analysis: Techniques and Applications. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humphreys, Macartan, and Weinstein, Jeremy. 2012. Policing Politicians: Citizen Empowerment and Political Accountability in Uganda - Preliminary Analysis. International Growth Centre (IGC) Working paper S-5021-UGA-1.Google Scholar
Keefer, Phillip. 2007. Seeing and Believing: Political Obstacles to Better Service Delivery. In The Politics of Service Delivery in Democracies: Better Access for the Poor, ed. Devarajan, Shantayanan and Widlund, Ingrid. Stockholm: Expert Group on Development Issues. 42–55.Google Scholar
Keefer, Phillip, and Khemani, Stuti. 2005. Democracy, Public Expenditures, and the Poor: Understanding Political Incentives for Providing Public Services. World Bank Research Observer 20, 1: 1–27.Google Scholar
Khemani, Stuti. 2004. Political Cycles in a Developing Economy: Effect of Elections in the Indian states. Journal of Development Economics 73, 1: 125–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, Fabio Alvim, and Naruhiko Sakurai, Sergio. 2015. Term Limits and Political Budget Cycles at the Local Level: Evidence from a Young Democracy. European Journal of Political Economy 37: 21–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larreguy, Horacio A., Marshall, John, and Snyder, James M. Jr. 2018. Publicizing Malfeasance: How Local Media Facilitates Electoral Sanctioning of Mayors in Mexico. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working paper 20697.Google Scholar
Lavena, Cecilia F. 2013. What Determines Permissiveness Toward Corruption? A Study of Attitudes in Latin America. Public Integrity 15, 4: 345–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melgar, Natalia, Rossi, Máximo, and Smith, Tom W.. 2010. The Perception of Corruption in a Cross-Country Perspective: Why Are Some Individuals More Perceptive than Others? Economia Aplicada 14, 2: 183–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meza, Oliver, and Pérez-Chiqués, Elizabeth. 2020. Corruption Consolidation in Local Governments: A Grounded Analytical Framework. Public Administration 99, 3: 530–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mungiu-Pippidi, Alina. 2015. The Quest for Good Governance: How Societies Develop Control of Corruption. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muñoz, Jordi, Anduiza, Eva, and Gallego, Aina. 2012. Why Do Voters Forgive Corrupt Politicians? Cynicism, Noise and Implicit Exchange. Paper presented at the International Political Science Association Conference, Madrid, July 8-12, 2012.Google Scholar
Olken, Benjamin A. 2009. Corruption Perceptions vs. Corruption Reality. Journal of Public Economics 93, 7–8: 950–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavão, Nara. 2018. Corruption As the Only Option: The Limits to Electoral Accountability. Journal of Politics 80, 3: 996–1010.Google Scholar
Pereira, Carlos, and André Melo, Marcus. 2015. Reelecting Corrupt Incumbents in Exchange for Public Goods: Rouba mas faz in Brazil. Latin American Research Review 50, 4: 88–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pereira, Carlos, André Melo, Marcus, and Figueiredo, Carlos M.. 2009. The Corruption-Enhancing Role of Re-Election Incentives? Counterintuitive Evidence from Brazil’s Audit Reports. Political Research Quarterly, 62, 4: 731–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persson, Anna, Rothstein, Bo, and Teorell, Jan. 2013. Why Anticorruption Reforms Fail—Systemic Corruption as a Collective Action Problem. Governance 26, 3: 449–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, German. 2021. Early Democratization, Corruption Scandals and Perceptions of Corruption: Evidence from Mexico. Democratization 28, 2: 333–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogoff, Kenneth. 1990. Equilibrium Political Budget Cycles. American Economic Review 80, 1: 21–36.Google Scholar
Romero, Vidal, Parás, Pablo, Pizzolitto, Georgina, and Zechmeister, Elizabeth J.. 2020. Cultura política de la democracia en México y en las Américas, 2018/19: tomándole el pulso a la democracia. Mexico City: US Agency for International Development/Vanderbilt University/LAPOP//Data OPM/ITAM.Google Scholar
Rose-Ackerman, Susan, and Palifka, Bonnie J.. 2016. Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selee, Andrew D. 2011. Decentralization, Democratization, and Informal Power in Mexico. University Park: Penn State Press.Google Scholar
Seligson, Mitchell A. 2002. The Impact of Corruption on Regime Legitimacy: A Comparative Study of Four Latin American Countries. Journal of Politics 64, 2: 408–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shi, Min, and Svensson, Jakob. 2000. Political Budget Cycles: Do They Differ Between Developed and Developing Countries? Washington, DC: World Bank Development Research Group.Google Scholar
Steenbergen, Marco R, and Jones, Bradford S.. 2002. Modeling Multilevel Data Structures. American Journal of Political Science 46, 1: 218–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Unda-Gutiérrez, Mónica. 2019. Municipal Finances in Mexico: Why Some Cities Extract More and Spend It Better. Paper presented at the conference Red de Economía Política de América Latina, New Orleans, May 13-14, 2019.Google Scholar
Vera, Sofia B. 2020. Accepting or Resisting? Citizen Responses to Corruption Across Varying Levels of Competence and Corruption Prevalence. Political Studies 68, 3: 653–70.Google Scholar
Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca, and Winters, Matthew S.. 2017. Can Citizens Discern? Information Credibility, Political Sophistication, and the Punishment of Corruption in Brazil. Journal of Politics 79, 1: 60–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winters, Matthew S., and Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca. 2013. Lacking Information or Condoning Corruption: When Do Voters Support Corrupt Politicians? Comparative Politics 45, 4: 418–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimbalist, Zack. 2018. “Fear-of-the-State Bias” in Survey Data. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 30, 4: 631–51.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Kahn and Zimbalist supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Kahn and Zimbalist supplementary material(File)
File 21.2 KB