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Do Competitive Elections Produce Better-quality Governments?: Evidence from Mexican Municipalities, 1990-2000

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Carlos Moreno-Jaimes
Carlos Moreno-Jaimes*
Affiliation:
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO)
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Abstract

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Electoral theories of governmental accountability assume that competitive elections produce responsive governments because they allow voters to punish or reward the performance of incumbent politicians at the ballot box. This research note investigates whether the increasing competitiveness of municipal elections in Mexico during the 1990s has improved the performance of local governments by focusing on the provision of potable water and drainage. The empirical evidence does not seem to support the electoral accountability hypothesis, but rather suggests that municipal governments are more responsive to the influence of socioeconomic modernity, as well as to the direct pressure of politically mobilized citizens. The findings cast doubts on the idea that competitive elections, by themselves, will significantly improve the quality of local governments in the country.

Resumo

Resumo

Las teorías electorales de la rendición de cuentas suponen que las elecciones competitivas producen gobiernos eficaces porque permiten que los votantes castiguen o premien el desempeño de las autoridades en las urnas. Esta nota de investigación analiza si el aumento en la competitividad de las elecciones municipales en México mejoró el desempeño de los gobiernos locales durante la década de los noventa en lo referente a la provisión de agua potable y drenaje. La evidencia empírica no parece apoyar la hipótesis electoral de la rendición de cuentas, pero sugiere que los gobiernos locales han respondido más a la influencia de la modernidad socioeconómica, así como a la presión directa de ciudadanos movilizados. Estos hallazgos ponen en duda la idea que las elecciones competitivas pueden mejorar, por sí mismas, la calidad de los gobiernos locales en el país.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 136 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the University of Texas Press

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