Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/280926 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 23-053
Publisher: 
ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, Mannheim
Abstract: 
In this paper, we study the extent to which ministers engage in regional favoritism. We are the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of a larger set of the governing elite, not just focusing on the primary leader. We hand-collect birthplaces of this governing elite globally. Combining this information with extended night-time luminosity and novel population data over the period from 1992 to 2016, we utilize a staggered difference-in-differences estimator and find that birthplaces of ministers globally emit on average roughly 7% more nightlight. We do not find evidence that this is driven by, or induces migration to their home regions. The size of our data set lets us investigate heterogeneities along a number of dimensions: political power, ministerial portfolio, and the institutional setting.
Subjects: 
Favoritism
elite capture
spatiality
luminosity
population
democracy
JEL: 
D72
H72
H77
R11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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