Effective number of candidates and regional wealth in campaign finance analyses: A methodological proposal for comparing the effects of the monetization of election campaigns in Brazil

Abstract

[ES]El trabajo presenta estudio empírico sobre el efecto de los recursos financieros en los resultados electorales. En Brasil, debido a que es un país de grandes extensiones y heterogeneidad económica, política y social en los distritos electorales, las comparaciones directas son difíciles. Se parte del princpio de que los recursos de campaña tienen pesos diferentes en función de los niveles de la competición politica y de la riqueza regional. Tenemos la intención de proponer un modelo que permite igualar las diferentes condiciones de campaña para evaluar los impactos de los recursos financieros en las disputas. Para ello, hemos utilizado los datos sobre las elecciones de 2010 para diputado federal.

[EN]This paper is an empirical study to measure the impact of financial resources on election campaigns. As Brazil is a large country with economically, politically and socially heterogeneous electoral districts, it is difficult to make direct comparisons regarding the impact of campaign financing on national elections. The study sets out by assuming that campaign resources have different effects depending on the levels of political competitiveness and local wealth. The aim of the study is to propose a model that will allow different campaign situations to be put on the same level in order to conduct a comparative evaluation of the impacts that financial resources make on elections. For this purpose, the data for the 2010 elections for Federal Deputy will be used.