Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:47:54.600Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Direct and Indirect Representation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2014

Shigeo Hirano  and
Michael M. Ting
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How much can a constituency influence the power of its representative in the legislature? This article develops a theoretical model of the constituency basis of legislator influence. The key players in the model are interest groups that may receive targeted transfers from the legislature. The model predicts that the amount of transfers that such groups receive is increasing in their ability to help a party win a legislative seat in the next election. This claim is tested using the changes in Japanese central-to-municipality transfers after a representative passes away while in office. The study finds that electorally ‘strong’ constituency groups do not lose transfers when they lose their representatives. However when ‘weak’ constituency groups lose their representatives, the transfers decrease.

Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 609 - 634
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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

*

Political Science Department, Columbia University, New York NY (emails: [email protected]; [email protected]). We thank Massimo Morelli, Virginia Oliveros and participants at the University of Chicago Political Economy Workshop, Stanford Graduate School of Business Political Economy Seminar, Harvard University Political Economy Workshop, Yale ISPS lunch seminar and the 2007 Yale Elections and Distribution Conference for helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft. Shigeo Hirano also thanks the Yale CSAP for institutional support while working on this project. An online appendix is available at http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0007123413000392.

References

Alesina, Alberto Spear, Stephen E.. 1988. An Overlapping Generations Model of Electoral Competition. Journal of Public Economics 37:359–379.Google Scholar
Ames, Barry. 2001. The Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Austen-Smith, David Banks, Jeffrey. 1988. Elections, Coalitions, and Legislative Outcomes. American Political Science Review 82:405–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banzhaf, John F. III. 1968. One Man 3.312 Votes: A Mathematical Analysis of the Electoral College. Villanova Law Review 13:304–332.Google Scholar
Baron, David Ferejohn, John. 1989. Bargaining in Legislatures. American Political Science Review 83:1181–1206.Google Scholar
Bawn, Kathleen, Cox, Gary W. Rosenbluth, Frances. 1999. Measuring the Ties That Bind: Electoral Cohesiveness in Four Democracies. In Elections and Campaigning in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, edited by Bernard Grofman, Sung-Chull Lee, Edwin A. Winckler and Brian Woodall, 300–316. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Bouissou, Jean-Marie. 1999. Organizing One's Support Base Under the SNTV: The case of Japanese Koenkai. In Elections and Campaigning in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, edited by Bernard Grofman, Sung-Chull Lee, Edwin A. Winckler and Brian Woodall, 87–120. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Calvo, Ernesto Murillo, Maria Victoria. 2013. When Parties Meet Voters: Assessing Political Linkages Through Partisan Networks and Distributive Expectations in Argentina and Chile. Comparative Political Studies 46:851–882.Google Scholar
Carey, John M. Shugart, Matthew S.. 1995. Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas. Electoral Studies 14:417–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chari, V.V., Jones, Larry E. Marimon, Ramon. 1997. The Economics of Split-Ticket Voting in Representative Democracies. American Economic Review 87:957–976.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W. McCubbins, Mathew D.. 1986. Electoral Politics as a Redistributive Game. Journal of Politics 48:370–389.Google Scholar
Curtis, Gerald. 1971. Campaign Electioneering Japanese Style. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Curtis, Gerald. 1992. Japan. In Electioneering: A Comparative Study of Continuity and Change, edited by David Butler and Austin Ranney, 222–243. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dixit, Avinash Londregan, John. 1995. Redistributive Politics and Economic Efficiency. American Political Science Review 89:856–866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doi, Takero. 2001. The Political Economy of Japanese Local Finance. Tokyo: Toyo Keizai Shimposha.Google Scholar
Freidenberg, Flavia Levitsky, Steven. 2006. Informal Institutions and Party Organization in Latin America. In Informal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from Latin America, edited by Gretchen Helmke and Steven Levitsky, 69–84. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Fukui, Haruhiro Fukai, Shigeko N.. 1996. Pork Barrel Politics, Networks, and Local Economic Development in Contemporary Japan. Asian Survey 34:268–286.Google Scholar
Harrington, Joseph E. Jr. 1992. The Role of Party Reputation in the Formation of Policy. Journal of Public Economics 49:107–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirano, Shigeo. 2006. Electoral Institutions, Hometowns and Favored Minorities Evidence from Japanese Electoral Reforms. World Politics 59:51–82.Google Scholar
Hirano, Shigeo. 2011. Do Individual Representatives Influence Government Transfers? Evidence from Japan. The Journal of Politics 73:1081–1094.Google Scholar
Hirano, Shigeo, Snyder, James M. Jr. Ting, Michael M.. 2009. Distributive Politics with Primaries. The Journal of Politics 71:1467–1480.Google Scholar
Horiuchi, Yusaku Saito, Jun. 2003. Reapportionment and Redistribution: Consequences of Electoral Reform in Japan. American Journal of Political Science 47:669–682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Benjamin F. Olken, Benjamin A.. 2005. Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II. Quarterly Journal of Economics 120:835–864.Google Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert, Kselman, Daniel. 2010. The Organizational Foundations of Democratic Accountability: Organizational Form and the Choice of Electoral Linkage Strategy. Manuscript prepared for the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Kobayashi, Yoshiaki. 1991. Kokyo shishutsu ni okeru seijika kodo [Politician Behavior in Public Spending] In Kokyo Sekutaa no Koritsuka [Making the Public Sector Efficient], 33–52. edited by Yoshitsugu Kanemoto and Hiroshi Miyajima. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Krauss, Ellis S. Pekkanen, Robert J.. 2010. The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven. 2001. An ‘Organized Disorganization’: Informal Organization and the Persistence of Local Party Structures in Argentine Peronism. Journal of Latin American Studies 33:29–61.Google Scholar
Levitt, Steven D. Snyder, James M. Jr. 1997. The Impact of Federal Spending on House Election Outcomes. Journal of Political Economy 105:30–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindbeck, Assar Weibull, Jorgen. 1987. Balanced-Budget Redistribution as the Outcome of Political Competition. Public Choice 52:272–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCubbins, Mathew D. Rosenbluth, Frances M.. 1995. Party Provision for Personal Politics: Dividing the Vote in Japan. In Structure and Policy in Japan and the United States, edited by Peter Cowhey and Mathew McCubbins, 35–55. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria, Perotti, Roberto Rostagno, Massimo. 2002. Electoral Systems and Public Spending. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117:609–657.Google Scholar
Mochida, Nobuki 2001. Taxes and Transfers in Japan's Local Public Finance. World Bank Institute Working Papers, No. 37171.Google Scholar
Morelli, Massimo. 1999. Demand Competition and Policy Compromise in Legislative Bargaining. American Political Science Review 93:809–820.Google Scholar
Myerson, Roger. 1993. Incentives to Cultivate Favored Minorities Under Alternative Electoral Systems. American Political Science Review 87:856–869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramseyer, Mark J. Rosenbluth, Frances. 1993. Japan's Political Marketplace. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reed, Steven. Japan MMD Data Set, Updated July 17, 2007, available at http://www.fps.chuo-u.ac.jp/~sreed/DataPage.html Google Scholar
Roberts, Brian E. 1990. A Dead Senator Tells No Lies: Seniority and the Distribution of Federal Benefits. American Journal of Political Science 34:31–58.Google Scholar
Sacks, Paul M. 1976. The Donegal Mafia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Scheiner, Ethan. 2006. Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1969. Corruption, Machine Politics, and Political Change. American Political Science Review 63:1142–1158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapley, Lloyd S. Shubik, Martin. 1954. A Method for Evaluating the Distribution of Power in a Committee System. American Political Science Review 48:787–792.Google Scholar
Shepsle, Kenneth A. Weingast, Barry R.. 1994. Positive Theories of Legislative Institutions. Legislative Studies Quarterly 19:149–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shirai, Sayuri. 2005. The Impact of Intergovernmental Transfers in the Japanese Local Government Fiscal System. Asian Economic Papers 4:26–58.Google Scholar
Snyder, James M. Ting, Michael M.. 2008. Interest Groups and the Electoral Control of Politicians. Journal of Public Economics 92:482–500.Google Scholar
Stokes, Susan C. 2005. Perverse Accountability: A Formal Model of Machine Politics with Evidence from Argentina. American Political Science Review 99:315–325.Google Scholar
Tatebayashi, Masahiko. 2004. Giin kodo no seiji keizaigaku: Jiminto shihai no seido bunseki. [The Logic of Legislators’ Activities: Institutional Analysis of LDP Dominance in Japan]. Tokyo: Yuhikaku.Google Scholar
Thayer, Nathaniel B. 1969. How the Conservatives Rule Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry R., Shepsle, Kenneth A. Johnsen, Christopher. 1981. The Political Economy of Benefits and Costs: A Neoclassical Approach to Distributive Politics. Journal of Political Economy 89:642–664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yonehara, Junshichiro. 1993. Financial Relations Between National and Local Governments. In Japan's Public Sector: How the Government is Financed, edited by Tokue Shibata, 167–178. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Hirano and Ting Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Hirano and Ting Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 182.8 KB