For the first time in Irish electoral history, the 1999 local elections required candidates to publicly declare their campaign expenditures. Drawing on these data, we explore patterns in campaign spending and assess their impact, both on candidate success and on turnout. First, examining the elections contested by 1,838 candidates from 180 local constituencies and 34 councils, we identify both ...

Comparative literature suggests that campaigning efforts impact positively, both in terms of mobilization and turnout. Effects are not uniform. They may be affected by the electoral system, the electoral circumstances and the effectiveness of party management. Studies of district level (constituency) campaigning in Britain have identified two important trends. First, that effective targeting is...

The theory of promissory representation (Mansbridge, 2003) proposes that voters select parties based on the pledges they made during campaign. elected then fulfill their promises and at next election, reward or sanction pledge-fulfillment record. However, a fundamental assumption remains to be tested. If use party decide which vote for, need know pledges. To test degree awareness citizens pledg...

I introduce a microfounded model of campaign ̄nance with o±ce-seeking politicians, a continuum of voters, and a large number of heterogeneous lobbies. Lobbies make contributions to politicians according to a common agency framework. Politicians use contributions to ̄nance their electoral expenditures. Voters are not fooled by electoral expenditures: they are in°uenced in a way that is consisten...

In this paper we argue that the number of candidates running for public office, their ideological differentiation, and the intensity of campaign competition are all naturally intertwined, and jointly determined in response to the incentives provided by the electoral system. We propose a simple general equilibrium model that integrates these elements in a unitary framework, and provide a compari...