Hamburg Lectures in Law and Economics

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“The Causal Impact of the Electoral System on Corruption“ - a lecture by Pierre-Guillaume Meon from the University of Brussels.

We estimate the causal effect of the type of electoral system on corruption by exploiting a feature of French municipal elections: Municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants use an individual majority system, while those above this threshold use a proportional closed-list system. Crossing the threshold therefore implies two opposite changes: reduced individual accountability, which may increase corruption, and stronger collective control, which may reduce it. Using a regression discontinuity design with both survey and actual corruption data, we find that the individual accountability effect dominates, as exceeding the threshold leads to higher levels of both perceived and actual corruption.

As an alternative, we offer online participation for those who are unable to attend in person. To register for online participation via Zoom, please send an E-Mail by 11:30 AM to lectures-ile(at)uni-hamburg.de. You will then receive an E-Mail with the access link prior to the lecture.

Organised by: Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg und Prof. Hans-Bernd Schäfer, Bucerius Law School