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The Curley Effect: The Economics of Shaping the Electorate
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This paper presented a model of the Curley effect, in which inefficient redistributive policies are sought not by interest groups protecting their rents, but by incumbent politicians trying to shape the electorate through emigration of their opponents or reinforcement of class identities.Abstract:
James Michael Curley, a four-time mayor of Boston, used wasteful redistribution to his poor Irish constituents and incendiary rhetoric to encourage richer citizens to emigrate from Boston, thereby shaping the electorate in his favor. Boston as a consequence stagnated, but Curley kept winning elections. We present a model of the Curley effect, in which inefficient redistributive policies are sought not by interest groups protecting their rents, but by incumbent politicians trying to shape the electorate through emigration of their opponents or reinforcement of class identities. The model sheds light on ethnic politics in the United States and abroad, as well as on class politics in many countries including Britain.read more
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Behaviour, preferences and cities: urban theory and urban resurgence
Michael Storper,Michael Manville +1 more
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Scott Gehlbach,Philip Keefer +1 more
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Policy-induced internal migration: An empirical investigation of the Canadian case
Kathleen M. Day,Stanley L. Winer +1 more
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Dynamics of Policymaking: Stepping Back to Leap Forward, Stepping Forward to Keep Back 1
Peter Buisseret,Dan Bernhardt +1 more
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