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Competence versus Priorities: Negative Electoral Responses to Education Quality in Brazil

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dc.contributor.authorToral, Guillermo
dc.contributor.authorBoas, Taylor
dc.contributor.authorHidalgo, Daniel
dc.contributor.rorhttps://ror.org/02jjdwm75
dc.date.accessioned2025-03-04T15:14:38Z
dc.date.available2025-03-04T15:14:38Z
dc.date.issued2020-05-19
dc.description.abstractDo voters reward politicians for the quality of public services? We address this question by studying voters’ responses to signals of municipal school quality in Brazil, a setting particularly favorable to electoral accountability. Findings from a regression discontinuity design and a field experiment are strikingly consistent. Contrary to expectations, signals of school quality decrease electoral support for the local incumbent. However, we find the expected effect among citizens for whom school quality should be most salient—parents with children in municipal schools. Using an online survey experiment, we argue that voters who do not value education interpret school quality as an indicator of municipal policy priorities and perceive trade-offs with other services. Voters may hold politicians accountable not only for their competence but also for their representation of potentially conflicting interests—a fact that complicates the simple logic behind many accountability interventions.
dc.description.peerreviewedyes
dc.description.statusPublished
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationBoas, T. C., Hidalgo, F. D., & Toral, G. (2021). Competence versus priorities: Negative electoral responses to education quality in Brazil. The Journal of Politics, 83(4), 1417-1431. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YILXB4.
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YILXB4
dc.identifier.issn0022-3816
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/3625
dc.issue.number4
dc.journal.titleThe Journal of Politics
dc.language.isoen
dc.page.final1431
dc.page.initial1417
dc.page.total59
dc.publisherHarvard
dc.relation.departmentComparative Politics
dc.relation.entityIE University
dc.relation.schoolIE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed
dc.subject.keywordEducation
dc.subject.keywordAccountability
dc.subject.keywordBrazil
dc.titleCompetence versus Priorities: Negative Electoral Responses to Education Quality in Brazil
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.version.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.volume.number83
dspace.entity.typePublication
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationebc554d8-b4c5-4dc9-a13a-922d294cf59c
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryebc554d8-b4c5-4dc9-a13a-922d294cf59c
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