The Differential Electoral Returns to Local Public Good Provision

A central question in the literature of economic voting is whether voters reward incumbents for distributive spending. Answering this question with causal evidence requires, first, to identify the voters who benefit from the spending, and second to know how they would have behaved in the absence of the spending. Using the locations of the groceries of a local food subsidy program and exploiting the variation in the geographical distances of voters to the program groceries, I first document the causal effect of this program on voting behavior. I then focus on the distinct mechanisms that drive these electoral returns by providing evidence for the vote-buying and often neglected turnout-buying channels, as well as, for how partisanship conditions the working of these channels. Finally, I discuss how the local spatial distribution of partisan groups in the geographical catchment areas of the program may influence the electoral returns within these localities