Political Parties, Candidate Selection, and Quality of Government

In: The B.E. journal of economic analysis & policy, Band 13, Heft 2, S. 783-810

Abstract

Abstract
This article explores empirically the relation between political parties' institutions and quality of government. I focus on procedures used to nominate presidential candidates given the importance of candidate selection in party politics. Using a panel dataset of Latin American countries, I find robust evidence of a positive relation between the use of democratic procedures, such as primaries, and quality of government. To shed light on the mechanism, I examine why parties use primaries. I find evidence suggestive that the results are mostly driven by the increase in political competition and candidates' pre-electoral incentives.