A different choice, a different outcome: budgetary effects of a conservative legislator in liberal local regions of South Korea

Abstract

In Korean society, regionalism has deep historical roots and has had a great influence on elections. A historic event occurred in 2014 when a conservative party candidate, Lee Jung-hyun, was elected as a member of the National Assembly in Suncheon-si, Jeollanam-do, where liberal parties have been in the midst of powerful political influence. This was possible because voters responded to the candidate's appeal to vote based on benefits to the local economy, that is, securing greater funding from the central government. Exploiting the synthetic control method, this article identifies how this different choice has affected the budget of the local district. The results show that the community budget has increased dramatically, and a battery of robustness checks also supports these basic results. On the basis of the empirical evidence, the study suggests the possibility of overcoming a long-standing parochial regionalism in Korean politics through economic voting and its practical benefits.

Bureaucrats and Budgets in South Korea: Evidence for Hometown Favoritism

“…Regions that have been historically isolated by geography and the use of dialects are more likely to present salient hometown preferences (Falck et al 2012; Michalopoulos 2012). These localities tend to have a strong culture and exhibit regional cleavages (Jung 2021; Hochul 2003). 14 I also excluded the samples from Busan when conducting the estimation.…”

Effects of electoral margins on party loyalty in the roll call votes: Evidence from the 20th National Assembly in South Korea

“…Voters’ political preferences have converged with the regionally based party, with attachment to particular regional leaders. Such confrontations have further solidified through unequal resource allocation, such as government expenditure and elite recruitment (Ha and Lee, 2022; Hong and Park, 2016; Horiuchi and Lee, 2008; Jung, 2021; Kang, 2016; Kim, 2021). As party labels play a major role in garnering votes, and legislators are motivated to receive endorsement from their regionally dominant party and residents in the subsequent election, party–politician unity becomes stronger within the pork-centric regional party system (Shin and Lee, 2017).…”

“…Under a long-standing authoritarian regime, political parties receive highly concentrated support from their home regions through bloc votes that have persisted over time (Kang and Jaung, 1999). For example, conservative party candidates for the National Assembly have only been elected three times in Jeolla Province since democratization in 1987 (Jung, 2021), and this trend continued into the 2022 presidential election. Such local partisan representation with regionalist partisan support has been further strengthened through unequal resource allocation.…”

“…2.For recent empirical research concerning pork-centric politics in South Korea, refer to the following examples: Horiuchi and Lee (2008), Hong and Park (2016), Kang (2016), and Kim (2021) for the case of president, Kim et al (2020a), Jung (2021) for the case of MPs, Kim and Park (2021), Ha and Lee (2022), and Jung (forthcoming) for the case of bureaucrats.…”

The Effect of Mayoral Gender on Gendered Budget: Evidence from South Korea

“…Government spending reflects policy priorities, and the mayor plays a critical role in budget allocation at the local level. As in many other countries (Levitt et al, 1997), local government leaders in South Korea have a great influence on budget formulation, and local public finance greatly affects the local economy and residents’ welfare (Jung, 2021; Kim et al, 2020). 2 Therefore, analyzing the amount and composition of government spending affected by female representation in leadership is crucial to understanding public policy direction and performance, and international organizations have suggested that the budget should reflect gender-sensitive features and their societal effects (Downes et al, 2017; Stotsky, 2006).…”