4 - Patronage Contracts and Political Services: Evidence from List Experiments

Summary

In office, politicians distribute many low- and mid-level public sector jobs in order to maintain a network of activists on the ground who perform various political activities. These activities, if enough of them and successful, can improve a politician’s electoral returns. Incumbents use the perceived support of potential employees at the time of hiring as a proxy for their willingness to provide political services: only perceived supporters can credibly commit to provide political services in the future (see Chapter 2). This chapter provides a detailed description of three different political activities performed by public employees during elections. Using the list experiment technique described below, I estimate the proportion of employees – particularly supporters – who help with campaigns, attend rallies, and monitor elections. These are not the only types of political services that patronage employees provide, but they are among the most important ones provided by mid- and low-level local employees in the Argentinean context.¹