Stimulating the Vote: ARRA Road Spending and Vote Share

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Huet-Vaughn, Emiliano
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20170151
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 292-316
• 关键词: american recovery; GOVERNMENT; POLITICS; SALIENCE

摘要

This paper estimates the impact of public good spending on voting behavior in the United States, using a quasi-experimental design and the distribution of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) road projects in New Jersey. I find an approximate 1.5 percentage point increase in Democratic Party presidential vote share in areas close to highway and bridge expenditures. I consider two alternative mechanisms: one, a salience mechanism whereby spending and associated funded-by signage affect political preferences; the other, a possible political multiplier effect whereby stimulus spending improves local economic outcomes, generating incumbent votes. Evidence is inconsistent with the later explanation.