Regional grants as pork barrel politics

Our measure of the electoral competitiveness of each district is the relevant vote margin—the absolute value of the percentage difference in votes for the government party and the maximum of those received by an opposition party in the preceding general election. [...] The discretionary nature of the funding rules have led a number of observers to suggest in the past that the agencies have been subject to political interference in the allocation of funds. [...] The data report the name and municipality of the transfer recipient, the date, and the amount of the transfer. [...] In addition to those shown here, we use data on educational attainment and the age structure of the population, both of which may be determinants of the vigour of the local economy and hence the level of spending attracted to the district. [...] The third column in Table 2 includes all of the variables in the second specification, but with the addition of the three indicator variables for the previous experience of the winning candidate.