Does electoral competition generate more effective governments? A comparative study of Brazilian local governments

Abstract

How effective are the Brazilian municipal administrations? What are the effects of the political dynamics, above all that of electoral competition, on their performance? For answering to these questions, this article aims to analyze the determinants of the performance of these governmental units, measured by effectiveness indicators regarding the areas of education, health, and social work - prepared through the data envelopment analysis. The theoretical premises which grounded the assumptions of this research date back to the debate about the importance of the politics with regard to the governmental results. We apply spatial regression to test how structural factors and, especially, political ones impact on the performance of local governments. The results suggest that the political dimension partly explains the performance of local governments, although the electoral competition does not influence on government effectiveness.