Centre for Economic and Regional Studies Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence

Start: 03/23/2017 14:00

End: 03/23/2017 16:00

Location: Budapest XI., Budaörsi út 45. VIII/807 (conference room)

Description

Lecture

Jan Fałkowski /Faculty of Economic Sciences - University of Warsaw/
Do political and economic inequalities go together? Mayor's turnover, elite families and the distribution of public support to agricultural producers.

Abstract
This paper studies the effects that the distribution of political power may have for the allocation of economic resources and the distribution of benefits resulting from policy intervention. Using local level data from Poland, we investigate the relationship between changes in political power and the distribution of public support for agricultural producers provided in the form of direct payments which are based on the area of land owned. Our results indicate that higher levels of concentration of political power are associated with more unequal distribution of rents created by land ownership. More specifically, we find that in municipalities where mayor's turnover is less frequent, elite families amass disproportionally large amount of wealth.

Keywords: Political power; public support for agricultural producers; elite families