eprintid: 672
rev_number: 18
eprint_status: archive
userid: 26
dir: disk0/00/00/06/72
datestamp: 2011-06-29 11:11:34
lastmod: 2011-10-25 12:50:10
status_changed: 2011-10-25 12:50:10
type: monograph
metadata_visibility: show
item_issues_count: 0
creators_name: Bruhn, Miriam
creators_name: Gallego, Francisco A.
creators_name: Onorato, Massimiliano Gaetano
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: massimiliano.onorato@imtlucca.it
title: Legislative Malapportionment and Institutional Persistence
ispublished: pub
subjects: HD
subjects: JF
subjects: JL
divisions: EIC
full_text_status: none
monograph_type: working_paper
keywords: Parliamentary Government, Labor Policies, Emerging Markets, Political Economy, Political Systems and Analysis 
abstract: This paper argues that legislative malapportionment, denoting a discrepancy between the share of legislative seats and the share of population held by electoral districts, serves as a tool for pre-democratic elites to preserve their political power and economic interests after a transition to democracy. The authors claim that legislative malapportionment enhances the pre-democratic elite's political influence by over-representing areas that are more likely to vote for parties aligned withthe elite. This biased political representation survives in equilibrium as long as it helps democratic consolidation. Using data from Latin America, the authors document empirically that malapportionment increases the probability of transitioning to a democracy. Moreover, the data show that over-represented electoral districts are more likely to vote for parties close to pre-democracy ruling groups. The analysis also finds that overrepresented areas have lower levels of political competition and receive more transfers per capita from the central government, both of which favor the persistence of power of pre-democracy elites. 
date: 2010-11
date_type: published
publisher: World Bank Development Research Group, Finance and Private Sector Development Team
pages: 33
id_number: Policy Research Working Paper 5467
official_url: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1702129
related_url_url: http://econ.worldbank.org
related_url_type: org
citation:   Bruhn, Miriam and Gallego, Francisco A. and Onorato, Massimiliano Gaetano  Legislative Malapportionment and Institutional Persistence.  Working Paper   World Bank Development Research Group, Finance and Private Sector Development Team