Benny Geys

Vantaggiato, Francesca P.; Murdoch, Zuzana, Kassim, Hussein, Geys, Benny & Connolly, Sara Jane (2024)

Intraorganizational mobility and employees’ work-related contact patterns: evidence from panel data in the European Commission

34(4) , s. 598- 610. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muae014 - Full text in research archive

Programs to encourage staff to move within public-sector organizations have become increasingly widespread in recent decades. Yet, although there are some anecdotal accounts, the effects of such intraorganizational mobility remain largely unexplored. Building on insights from organization theory and social psychology, we argue that intraorganizational mobility entails an important trade-off: it undermines movers’ depth of work-related contacts within the (new) department, while it increases the breadth of their work-related contacts outside it. Our empirical analysis evaluates this trade-off using a two-way fixed effects model for a longitudinal dataset of movers (N = 149) and stayers (N = 473) across two survey waves among European Commission officials in 2014 and 2018. Our main findings confirm that intraorganizational mobility is connected in opposing ways to employees’ intra- and extra-departmental work-related contact patterns. In line with theoretical expectations, we find these relationships to be stronger for employees who have previously experienced intraorganizational moves (“repeat-movers”).

Murdoch, Zuzana; MacCarthaigh, Muiris & Geys, Benny (2023)

It's about time! Temporal dynamics and longitudinal research designs in public administration

83(6) , s. 1727- 1736. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13758 - Full text in research archive

Many of the fundamental research questions in public administration relate to individual- or organization-level temporal dynamics, including the impact of public sector reforms, (in)stability of public policies and organizations, development of public service motivation, or the workplace socialization of public employees. However, theoretical, methodological, and empirical public administration scholarship continues to take time and temporal dynamics insufficiently seriously. This constitutes a major shortcoming within the profession and implies that we are yet to unlock the transformative potential of longitudinal research. Building on the recent development of novel research infrastructures that can support the study of temporal dynamics of—and within—public organizations, this Symposium pushes for a “longitudinal turn” in the study of public administration. We maintain that more concerted efforts to apply a temporal lens to our research endeavors are critical to theorize, empirically assess, and understand public administrations as well as the bureaucrats employed within them.

Geys, Benny; Lægreid, Per, Murdoch, Zuzana & Trondal, Jarle (2023)

Organizational Stability and Resocialization in Public Administrations: Theory and Evidence from Norwegian Civil Servants (1986-2016)

102(3) , s. 1137- 1155. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12968 - Full text in research archive

The organizational theory approach to public administration emphasizes that organizational features of public bureaucracies shape civil servants' role perceptions and opinions. This study brings forward a novel refinement of this theoretical framework by arguing that such processes of organizational resocialization require intertemporal consistency of the organizational environment. We empirically test this proposition by combining individual-level longitudinal data from a panel of Norwegian civil servants (1986–2016; N ≈ 375) with information about organizational changes in ministerial structures since 1945. Using individuals' task portfolio as our main organizational “influencer” of interest, we confirm that the impact of individuals' task portfolio on their role perceptions only strengthens over time for individuals working in ministries with a high level of organizational stability. This finding adds an important scope condition—namely, intertemporal stability—to the traditional organizational theory argument about what shapes civil servants' role perceptions and opinions.

Geys, Benny; Connolly, Sara, Kassim, Hussein & Murdoch, Zuzana (2023)

Staff reallocations and employee attitudes towards organizational aims: evidence using longitudinal data from the European Commission

25(12) , s. 2323- 2343. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2023.2222139 - Full text in research archive

Organizational reforms often involve substantial staff reallocations, creating both winners and losers within the same organization. We argue that allocating less (more) staff to a department signals a decrease (increase) in organizational support towards that department and its employees. We hypothesize that staff members respond to this signal by adjusting their support for key organizational aims and their plans to stay in the organization. We test these propositions using a two-wave survey conducted within the European Commission. Consistent with theoretical arguments, we find that staff (re)allocations trigger distinct reactions among winners and losers as well as across staff types.

Geys, Benny & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2023)

A Post-politics Earnings Penalty? Evidence from Politicians’ Life-time Income Trajectories (1970-2019)

77(1) , s. 57- 76. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12358 - Full text in research archive

Politicians are commonly believed to gain financially from holding and/or having held office. We argue that there may often also be economic downsides to pursuing a political career, and investigate whether and when politicians can(not) capitalize on their political experience. We thereby study both entry into and exit from political office, and directly compare the returns to politics across government levels and types of politicians. Empirically, we build on detailed information from Norwegian administrative register data over the period 1970-2019 to study individual-level income developments before, during and after a political career at the national and local levels (covering nearly 22,000 individuals and 700,000 person-years). Using an event-study methodology, we show that politicians on average witness a significant income boost during their time in office. In sharp contrast, leaving political office is on average associated with a substantial drop in income, which generally outweighs the income gain from entry into office. These findings suggest that most politicians face a net present value loss from holding office.

Geys, Benny; Murdoch, Zuzana & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2023)

Public Employees as Elected Politicians: Assessing Direct and Indirect Substantive Effects of Passive Representation

86(1) , s. 170- 182. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/726918 - Full text in research archive

In many countries, public sector employees are eligible to hold political offices during their employment as civil servants. This often triggers conflict-of-interest concerns that elected public employees might sway policies to their professional benefit. In this article, we build on representation scholarship in political science and public administration to assess such substantive effects of public employees’ political representation using detailed Norwegian administrative register and survey data (2003–19). Our main results indicate that public employees differ little from other members within their party in terms of ideology and policy preferences. They do, however, appear to move their party slightly toward the left of the political spectrum, consistent with preference spillover effects induced by heightened public sector representation. Finally, using an instrumental variable approach exploiting close elections, we find that political representation of public employees is associated with at best modest public spending, employment, and wage effects at the local level.

Geys, Benny; Lægreid, Per, Murdoch, Zuzana & Trondal, Jarle (2023)

The impact of terrorism on civil servants: Longitudinal evidence from the July 22, 2011 attack in Norway

83(6) , s. 1772- 1784. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13694 - Full text in research archive

Building on a growing literature assessing the societal impact of terrorism, this article analyzes whether and how a terror attack targeting public institutions affects civil servants in their day-to-day work. This is an important question to enhance our understanding of how terrorism can (or cannot) affect the operation of core government functions. Theoretically, the study contributes to a broader account of the political consequences of terrorism by combining insights from social identity and organization theory. Empirically, we exploit a two-wave survey fielded before and after the 2011 terror attack in Norway, which allows us to study the same civil servants (N = 186) before and after this event. While terrorists wish to disrupt public institutions, our findings indicate that a terror attack targeting core government institutions strengthens internal cohesion and increases attention to political signals in work tasks. We discuss implications of these effects for the functioning of democratic government.

Geys, Benny (2023)

Fancy Seeing You Here…Again: Uncovering Individual-Level Panel Data in Repeated Cross-Sectional Surveys

83(6) , s. 1761- 1771. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13693 - Full text in research archive

Many theories in Public Administration and Public Management explicitly relate to changes over time in the attitudes, values, perceptions, and/or motivations of public-sector employees. Examining such theories using (repeated) cross-sectional datasets may lead to biased inferences and an inability to expose credible causal relationships. As developing individual-level panel datasets is costly and time-consuming, this article presents a method to make better use of existing surveys fielded repeatedly among the same respondent pool without individual identifiers. Specifically, it sets out an approach to create a system of unique identifiers using information about respondents' background characteristics available within the original data. The result is a panel dataset that allows tracking (a subset of) individual respondents across time. The article discusses issues of feasibility, credibility as well as ethical considerations. The methodology has further practical value by highlighting data characteristics that can help minimize identifiability of respondents while creating public-release datasets.

Schönhage, Nanna Lauritz; Bækgaard, Martin & Geys, Benny (2023)

The politics of distributing blame and credit: Evidence from a survey experiment with Norwegian local politicians

63(2) , s. 599- 620. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12610 - Full text in research archive

How do politicians attribute responsibility for good and poor policy outcomes across multiple stakeholders in a policy field where they themselves can affect service provision? Such ‘diffusion’ decisions are crucial to understand the political calculations underlying the allocation of blame and credit by office-holders. We study this issue using a between-subjects survey experiment fielded among local politicians in Norway (N = 1073). We find that local politicians attribute responsibility for outcomes in primary education predominantly to school personnel (regardless of whether performance is good or bad) and do not engage in local party-political blame games. However, we show that local politicians are keen to attribute responsibility for poor outcomes to higher levels of government, especially when these are unaligned with the party of the respondent. These findings suggest that vertical partisan blame-shifting prevails over horizontal partisan blame games in settings with a political consensus culture.

Murdoch, Zuzana; Geys, Benny & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2023)

Political Representation of Public Sector Employees

Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten (2023)

Politicians’ Extra-Parliamentary Activities and Lobbying

, s. 183- 200. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44393-0_9 - Full text in research archive

The extra-parliamentary activities of politicians have long been a highly controversial and heavily debated issue in the public and political spheres of many countries. This chapter provides an overview of the state of academic research into this potential channel of influence for lobbyists seeking to affect public policy decisions. First, the potential problems of politicians’ extra-parliamentary activities are explained on a theoretical level. Then, empirical studies are presented that have investigated the theoretical relationships using real-world data. In addition, we discuss the possibilities of, and limits to, regulating politicians’ extra-parliamentary activities and income.

Carvalho, Bruno P.; Custódio, Claudia, Geys, Benny, Mendes, Diogo & Peralta, Susana (2023)

Information, perceptions, and electoral behaviour of young voters: A randomised controlled experiment

84 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102625 - Full text in research archive

The way people absorb and process politically relevant information is central to their subsequent political behaviour (in terms of turnout and vote choice). Nonetheless, little is known about how young voters – who might be more impressionable than more experienced voters – respond to the provision of such information. In this article, we design a between-subject randomised controlled trial that exposes a sample of university students to positive, neutral or negative information about central government performance before the 2017 Portuguese local elections. We find that young voters update their perceptions more when exposed to negative news. This negativity bias is stronger for first-time voters. We also find that negative information significantly affects turnout of initially undecided young voters. Our results imply that sensitivity to information is heterogeneous and that some young voters may be prone to manipulation through the provision of negative news.

Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten (2022)

Politiker-Nebentätigkeiten als Einflusskanal für Lobbying

, s. 329- 349. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32324-0_11-1 - Full text in research archive

Die Nebentätigkeiten von Politikerinnen und Politikern sind in Deutschland, Großbritannien und anderen Ländern seit Jahren Gegenstand kontroverser Diskussionen in Politik und Öffentlichkeit. Dieser Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über den Stand der Forschung zu diesem möglichen Einflusskanal des Lobbyismus. Zunächst werden auf theoretisch-konzeptioneller Ebene die potenziellen Probleme der Nebentätigkeitspraxis erläutert. Anschließend werden empirische Studien vorgestellt, die die theoretischen Zusammenhänge in der Realität untersucht haben. Zudem diskutiert der Beitrag die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Regulierung von Nebentätigkeiten und Nebeneinkünften.

Schönhage, Nanna Lauritz & Geys, Benny (2022)

Politicians and Scandals that Damage the Party Brand

48(2) , s. 305- 331. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/lsq.12377 - Full text in research archive

Scandals can cause serious damage to political parties’ brand name and reputation, which may taint all members of the party—even those not implicated in the scandal. In this article, we therefore explore how (uninvolved) politicians are likely to react to the eruption of such events. Building on a survey among UK local councilors (N = 2133), we first document the prevalence of distinct response strategies (such as distancing oneself from the scandal-hit party or redirecting attention to similar events in other parties). Then, building on a between-subject survey-experimental design, we assess the moderating roles of partisanship and scandal type. We show that a scandal in one’s own party reduces the probability of distancing oneself from the scandal-hit party (particularly among men). We also find that scandal type matters: pointing out similar scandals in other parties is less likely for sex scandals compared to financial scandals (particularly among women).

Geys, Benny; Heggedal, Tom-Reiel & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2022)

Age and vote choice: Is there a conservative shift among older voters?

78 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2022.102485 - Full text in research archive

Ageing is often believed to induce a movement towards the right of the political spectrum. Yet, empirical evidence remains inconclusive due to a dearth of longitudinal datasets covering multiple cohorts. Using eleven rotating panels of the Norwegian Election Studies (1977–2017) and exploiting first-derivative properties of the vote choice function, our empirical approach identifies non-linear life-cycle effects while controlling for cohort and period effects. Our main findings indicate that shifting towards the left is more likely among the young (under 40 years) whereas shifting towards the right occurs at an older age (over 55 years). Evaluating potential mechanisms, we find that individuals’ income, retirement, family status and political interest explain only a small part of the observed ageing effect. Life-cycle shifts in (some) policy preferences may play a bigger role. Finally, aging effects are similar across women and men, and only marginally stronger among groups with lower education and income levels.

Geys, Benny; Murdoch, Zuzana & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2021)

Political (Over)Representation of Public Sector Employees and the Double-Motive Hypothesis: Evidence from Norwegian Register Data (2007-2019)

32(2) , s. 326- 341. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muab034 - Full text in research archive

Countries have widely diverging regulations regarding the eligibility of public sector employees for political office, and the stringency of such regulations remains fiercely debated. Building on a demand and supply model of political selection, this article contributes to such debates by studying whether and how the incentives of public employees as both consumers and producers of public services (their ‘double motive’) affects their descriptive political representation. Our analysis employs population-wide individual-level register data covering four Norwegian local elections between 2007 and 2019 (N>13 million observations). Using predominantly individual-level panel regression models, we find that public employees are strongly overrepresented on election lists and have a higher probability of election (conditional on running). Looking at underlying mechanisms, we provide evidence consistent with the ‘double motive’ of public employees inducing their self-selection into standing for elected office (at higher-ranked ballot positions). Demand-side effects deriving from party and voter selection receive more limited empirical support. We discuss ensuing concerns about the potential substantive representation of policy self-interests by elected public employees.

Fiva, Jon H.; Geys, Benny, Heggedal, Tom-Reiel & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2021)

Political Alignment and Bureaucratic Pay

31(3) , s. 596- 615. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaa053 - Full text in research archive

Building on agency-theoretical perspectives of public bureaucracies, we argue that politician–bureaucrat preference alignment can have important implications for bureaucrats’ pay. We study such private gains to bureaucrats from their political alignment with elected politicians using detailed data on all 1,632 top administrators active in all Norwegian municipalities over a period of 25 years (1991–2015). Whereas existing studies generally rely on proxies for politician–bureaucrat political alignment, a rare feature of our data allows measuring it directly since 27% of top bureaucrats ran for political office. We focus explicitly on individuals at the very top of the administrative hierarchy and are able to separate the intensive margin (i.e., wage increases) from any additional effects at the extensive margin (i.e., new appointments). Using close elections for inference in a regression discontinuity analysis, we find that politician–bureaucrat alignment significantly increases top bureaucrats’ wage even in the Norwegian civil service system. This has important implications also from a theoretical perspective. Our results indeed go against predictions from models with policymotivated bureaucrats, but are consistent with politically aligned principal–agent matches being more productive.

Achbari, Wahideh; Geys, Benny & Doosje, Bert Jan (2021)

Comparing the effect of cross-group friendship on generalized trust to its effect on prejudice: The mediating role of threat perceptions and negative affect

16(2) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245983 - Full text in research archive

Intergroup relations theory posits that cross-group friendship reduces threat perceptions and negative emotions about outgroups. This has been argued to mitigate the negative effects of ethnic diversity on generalized trust. Yet, direct tests of this friendship-trust relation, especially including perceptions of threat and negative affect as mediators, have remained rare at the individual level. In this article, we bridge this research gap using representative data from eight European countries (Group-Focused Enmity). We employ structural equation modelling (SEM) to model mediated paths of cross-group friendship on generalized trust via perceptions of threat and negative affect. We find that both the total effect as well as the (mediated) total indirect effect of cross-group friendship on generalized trust are weak when compared with similar paths estimated for prejudice.

Titl, Vitezslav; Witte, Kristof De & Geys, Benny (2021)

Political Donations, Public Procurement and Government Efficiency

148(105666) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105666 - Full text in research archive

Public procurement markets are worth 10–15% of global GDP. Recent empirical evidence suggests that firms’ political donations can induce important distortions in the allocation of public procurement contracts. In this article, we employ a non-parametric efficiency model to study the implications of such distortions for the regional governments’ efficiency. Using a unique dataset covering the Czech regions over the 2007–2017 period, we find that the efficiency of public good provision is lower when a larger share of public procurement contracts is awarded to firms donating to the party in power (‘party donors’) – even when we account for quality differences in public goods provision. We link the dependence on politically connected firms to the institutional design of the procurement allocation process (i.e. the use of less restrictive and less open allocation procedures), which helps explaining the mechanics behind the observed decrease in efficiency.

Schönhage, Nanna Lauritz & Geys, Benny (2021)

Partisan bias in politicians’ perception of scandals

28(4) , s. 691- 701. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068821998024 - Full text in research archive

Do politicians perceive scandals differently when they implicate members of their own party rather than another party? We address this question using a between-subject survey experiment, whereby we randomly assign UK local councillors (N - 2133) to vignettes describing a major national-level scandal in their own party versus another party. Our results show that local politicians perceive a significantly larger impact of this national scandal on the national party image when it concerns their own party (relative to another party). When evaluating the same scandal’s impact on the local party image, no similar effect is observed. This suggests that local politicians tone down the local impact of a national scandal more when thinking about their own party. We suggest this derives from a form of motivated reasoning whereby politicians selectively focus on information allowing a more negative view of direct electoral opponents. These findings arise independent of the type of scandal under consideration

Murdoch, Zuzana; Connolly, Sara Jane, Kassim, Hussein & Geys, Benny (2021)

Legitimacy Crises and the Temporal Dynamics of Bureaucratic Representation

35(1) , s. 65- 82. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12569 - Full text in research archive

The representation of specific groups and social interests within (or by) the civil service has long been a concern of public administration scholarship. Yet, much of this literature focuses on representation at a single point in time. In this article, we propose a more dynamic perspective. In terms of theory, we postulate specific temporal relationships between triggering cues (e.g., a crisis event) and the representation decisions of civil servants. We specify two complementary mechanisms underlying these relationships: that is, a sensemaking process whereby the perceived meaning and relative salience of distinct groups and interests changes over time; and a shift in bureaucrats' discretion to represent specific groups or interests changes over time. We illustrate these time-dependent processes using interview and survey data from the European Commission.

Geys, Benny & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2021)

Public Sector Employment and Voter Turnout

116(1) , s. 367- 373. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305542100099X - Full text in research archive

Does working in the public rather than the private sector have a causal effect on electoral participation? Extant evidence using cross-sectional survey data remains unpersuasive due to data limitations and concerns posed by preference-based job selection. We address these challenges using population-wide individual-level register data on voter turnout covering four Norwegian local and national elections between 2013 and 2019. We identify causal effects by tracking the same individuals over time during (a) shifts between private- and public-sector employment, (b) relocations between municipalities, and (c) shifts into retirement. We find that local public-sector employees display 1–3 percentage points higher voter turnout compared with private-sector employees. These effects arise particularly when working in their residential municipality, but they largely dissipate upon retirement.

Geys, Benny; Connolly, Sara Jane, Kassim, Hussein & Murdoch, Zuzana (2020)

Follow the Leader? Leader Succession and Staff Attitudes in Public Sector Organizations.

80(4) , s. 555- 564. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13189 - Full text in research archive

Public sector organizations face regular turnover in top leadership positions. Yet little is known about how such changes affect staff attitudes. The authors argue that top leader succession may influence staff attitudes, particularly when new leaders are “outsiders” and/or subordinates interact regularly with their leaders. Using a unique two-wave survey conducted within the European Commission in 2008 and 2014, this analysis tests these propositions by studying the same individuals before and after shifts in top political (commissioner) and administrative (director-general) positions. The study shows that leadership succession can trigger meaningful shifts in subordinates’ stated attitudes regarding the European Commission’s supranational identity. These findings are important because staff attitudes about organizational values and aims represent a key driver of individual and organizational performance.

Geys, Benny & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2020)

Administrative Delegation in Budgetary Powers and Fiscal Performance

73(4) , s. 477- 499. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12248 - Full text in research archive

Does delegation of the budget preparation process to top civil servants improve or worsen fiscal performance? We address this question by analyzing high‐quality data on budgetary procedures and fiscal performance over a 25‐year period in Norwegian local governments. This long time period allows exploiting substantial variation in budgetary procedures across time and space. The results show that administrative delegation decreases fiscal deficits as a share of current revenues. Compared to procedures relying on political coordination or the traditional ‘bottom‐up’ procedure, deficits are approximately 0.3 percentage points lower on average under administrative delegation. Still, this effect is conditional upon the presence of minority governments and fails to materialize when the mayor enjoys majority support in the local council. Our results thus indicate that administrative delegation in budgetary processes may constitute an important tool to alleviate poor fiscal performance arising due to political coordination failures and weak political decision‐making.

Geys, Benny & Konrad, Kai A. (2020)

Patriotism and taxation

Geys, Benny & Hernæs, Øystein Marianssønn (2020)

Party leaders and voter responses to political terrorism

187(3) , s. 481- 499. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-020-00789-3 - Full text in research archive

In this article, we study the political implications of terrorism rooted in extremist political ideologies. Our data uniquely allow studying the potential role of party leader evaluations on political outcomes, including voter turnout and vote choice. To strengthen causal identification, we combine an event-study framework with the fact that Norwegians were affected personally to differing degrees by the 22 July 2011 terror attack because of variation in the victims’ municipalities of residence. Our main findings suggest that extreme right-wing terrorism influences party vote intentions and evaluations of political leaders strongly in the short run, as well as party choice in actual elections in the longer run. We document shifts within Norway’s left-right political blocs rather than shifts between those blocs frequently observed following religious/separatist violence.

Geys, Benny & schönhage, Nanna Lauritz (2020)

Party Cues and Incumbent Assessments under Multilevel Governance

69 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2020.102260 - Full text in research archive

Politicians' party membership allows voters to overcome incomplete information issues. In this article, we maintain that such ‘party cues’ in multilevel governance structures also induce voters to incorporate their assessment of incumbents at one level of government into their assessment of incumbents at other levels of government. Moreover, we argue that these assessment ‘spillovers’ increase in magnitude with voters' level of political information. They become particularly prominent for voters with higher levels of political knowledge and interest as well as during election periods (when information is less costly and more readily available). Empirical analyses using survey data from Germany covering the period 1990 to 2018 corroborate our theoretical propositions.

Geys, Benny; Heggedal, Tom-Reiel & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2020)

Popular support for environmental protection: A life-cycle perspective

51(3) , s. 1348- 1355. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123419000607 - Full text in research archive

Support for environmental protection is generally perceived as driven by cohort or generational effects. We argue and empirically illustrate that such attitudes also fluctuate over the life cycle. Using rotating panels of the Norwegian Election Studies (1989-2013), our analysis is able to identify such life-cycle effects while controlling for cohort and period effects through a methodological innovation exploiting the first-derivative properties of the environmental concern function. Our main findings provide strong evidence of an inverted U-shape over the life cycle, which implies that substantial population aging in advanced economies may partially offset any generational shift towards a greater emphasis on protecting the environment.

Daniele, Gianmarco; Galetta, Sergio & Geys, Benny (2020)

Abandon Ship? Party Brands and Politicians’ Responses to a Political Scandal

184(April) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104172 - Full text in research archive

Political scandals often trigger responses from voters and the implicated politicians. In this article, we extend the analysis to politicians who are only indirectly affected by a scandal through their affiliation with the involved party. Overcoming endogeneity concerns by analyzing the local implications of the largest national scandal in recent Italian history (“Clean Hands”), our main results show that local politicians withdraw support from incumbents in parties hit by Clean Hands – inducing early government dissolutions in such municipalities. Consistent with these municipality-level findings, we then illustrate that local politicians from the implicated parties exhibit lower re-running rates and higher rates of party switching in the short term. In the medium term, we find that corruption and voter turnout are lower in competitive municipalities ‘treated’ with a mayor from the implicated parties during Clean Hands. Moreover, medium-term upward career mobility of local politicians from the implicated parties benefited from party switching.

Titl, Vitezslav & Geys, Benny (2019)

Political Donations and the Allocation of Public Procurement Contracts

111, s. 443- 458. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2018.11.004 - Full text in research archive

We study whether and when firms’ donations to political parties induce favouritism in public procurement allocations. Our analysis builds on a unique, comprehensive dataset covering all public procurement contracts and all corporate donations to major political parties in the Czech Republic over the period from 2007 to 2014, and exploits changes in political control over regional governments within this period for identification purposes. We find that firms donating 10% more to a political party gaining (losing) power witness an increase (decrease) in the value of their public procurement contracts by 0.5–0.6%. Importantly, and in line with theoretical expectations, these effects only arise for contracts allocated under less restrictive procurement allocation processes. Assessing the underlying mechanisms, we show that donating firms receive more small contracts allocated under less regulated procurement procedures, face less competition in more regulated and open procurement procedures, and tend to win with bids further above the estimated cost of the procurement contract.

Geys, Benny & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2019)

The Impact of Women above the Political Glass Ceiling: Evidence from a Norwegian Executive Gender Quota Reform

60, s. 1- 10. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2019.102050 - Full text in research archive

Women have historically been underrepresented in democratic assemblies, particularly in top positions with executive powers. Most gender quota reforms address this by mandating a more equal gender representation on election lists. In contrast, a 1992 legislative reform in Norway required parties' candidate lists for the local executive board to comprise at least 40% politicians of each gender. This legal change was not only exogenously imposed by a higher-level government, but also generated distinct quota-induced constraints across Norwegian municipalities. We exploit the resulting variation in ‘quota shocks’ using a difference-in-differences design to identify the quota's effect on women's political representation as well as local public policies. We find that more women enter the executive board after the reform, though spill-overs on women's representation in the local council and on the probability of a female mayor or top administrator are weak. We also find no consistent evidence for shifts in public policies due to increased representation of women in positions with executive powers.

Murdoch, Zuzana; Kassim, Hussein, Connolly, Sara & Geys, Benny (2018)

Do international institutions matter? Socialization and international bureaucrats

25(3) , s. 852- 877. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066118809156

Boenisch, Peter; Geys, Benny & Michelsen, Claus (2018)

David and Goliath in the Poll Booth: Group Size, Political Power and Voter Turnout

45, s. 724- 747. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2018.1510390 - Full text in research archive

This article analyses how the presence of a dominant group of voters within the electorate affects voter turnout. Theoretically, we argue that its absolute size affects turnout via increased free-riding incentives and reduced social pressure to vote within a larger dominant group. Its relative size compared to other groups within the electorate influences turnout through instrumental and expressive responses – in both the dominant and dominated groups – to the degree of electoral competition between groups. Empirical evidence from a large cross section of German municipalities is in line with these theoretical predictions. The observed effects should be taken into account when redesigning electoral jurisdictions through, for instance, municipal mergers or gerrymandering.

Witte, Kristof De; Geys, Benny & Schönhage, Nanna Lauritz (2018)

Strategic public policy around population thresholds

106(July) , s. 46- 58. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2018.06.001 - Full text in research archive

Political economists have long maintained that politicians respond to both (re-)election and financial incentives. This article contributes to the latter literature by analysing whether, when and how local office-holders respond to the economic incentives embedded in exogenously imposed population thresholds leading to an increased number and remuneration of local politicians. Building on insights from the urban economics and public finance literatures, we argue that local politicians may strategically adjust fiscal and housing policies to stimulate in-migration when approaching a population threshold where their remuneration increases. Using data from all 589 Belgian municipalities over the period 1977–2016, our results confirm that approaching important population thresholds causes lower local tax rates and the granting of additional building permits (particularly for apartments). These policy changes occur early in the election cycle and, at least for housing policy, are restricted to incumbent mayors themselves expecting to benefit from crossing the population threshold.

Slegten, Caroline; Geys, Benny & Heyndels, Bruno (2018)

Sex differences in budgetary preferences among Flemish local politicians

54, s. 540- 563. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-018-0090-4 - Full text in research archive

Policy preferences have been shown to differ by sex within the electorate and among public officials. We explore whether—in a context of budgetary restraints—sex differences in budgetary preferences prevail among council members in Flemish municipalities. We find convincing evidence of sex-related differences. To fight a budget deficit, female politicians express a relative preference for increasing public revenues. Male politicians prefer to lower expenditures. Crucially, preferences also differ with respect to the nature of revenue increases and expenditure decreases. Once the option to increase revenues is chosen, women prefer the ability-to-pay principle, whereas men express a preference for the benefit principle. If, on the other hand, a decrease in expenditures is chosen, women prefer to narrow the scope of government intervention more than men, while men prefer a reduction in operating costs.

Trondal, Jarle; Murdoch, Zuzana & Geys, Benny (2018)

How pre- and post-recruitment factors shape role perceptions of European Commission officials

31(1) , s. 85- 101. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12269 - Full text in research archive

Individuals' role perceptions are central guides to their behavior and choices as members of an organization. Understanding organizational dynamics thus requires knowledge about the determinants of such role perceptions, as well as whether—and when—organizations can influence them. This article brings forward a theoretical framework allowing for both prerecruitment (extraorganizational) and post-recruitment (intraorganizational) determinants of individuals' role perceptions, and examines its empirical implications using a large-N data set of temporary officials in the European Commission. We find that intergovernmental and epistemic role perceptions are strongly linked to pre-recruitment factors (such as educational and professional background), whereas postrecruitment factors (such as length of affiliation and embeddedness within the Commission) are the main driving force behind supranational and departmental role perceptions. This heterogeneity in the importance of pre- and postrecruitment factors for distinct role perceptions has important consequences for conceptualizing organizational change.

Holm, Joshua & Geys, Benny (2017)

Social Identification and Redistribution in Heterogeneous Federations: Evidence from Germany and Belgium

51(9) , s. 1177- 1207. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414017730081 - Full text in research archive

Recent evidence of increasing income heterogeneity within developed countries has reignited debates concerning the redistribution of income and wealth. In this article, we contribute to this debate by assessing the role of individuals’ jurisdictional identification for their preferences toward intrafederation redistributive financial flows. Incorporating insights from social identity theory in a model of redistributive taxation, we show that federal, rather than local, identification can lead individuals to shift their redistribution preferences independent of their narrowly defined personal economic interests. Moreover, contrary to conventional wisdom, welfare state support will sometimes be decreasing in national identification. We empirically assess these predictions using individual-level data from the 2008 German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) and a 2013-2014 survey among Belgian local politicians. Our findings provide strong support for the model’s core predictions in both settings

Geys, Benny (2017)

Political Dynasties, Electoral Institutions and Politicians’ Human Capital

127(605) , s. F474- F494. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12444 - Full text in research archive

This article focuses on political dynasties’ potential consequences, and particularly investigates whether and when they lead to the selection of dynastic politicians with relatively lower education levels. I exploit the different electoral constraints faced by distinct subsets of Italian local politicians to identify whether weaker constraints on political selection processes induce the selection of dynastic politicians with lower education levels relative to their non-dynastic peers. The analysis – which covers almost 540,000 Italian local politicians active during the period 1985–2012 – indicates that a political selection process controlled by politicians rather than the electorate favours dynastic individuals with relatively lower levels of education.

Geys, Benny; Heggedal, Tom-Reiel & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2017)

Are Bureaucrats Paid like CEOs? Performance Compensation and Turnover of Top Civil Servants

152, s. 47- 54. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.05.006

Recent research explores the effect of financial and career incentives on public-sector hiring processes and subsequent performance. The reverse relation between performance and bureaucrats’ compensation and turnover has received only limited attention. Due to the distinct features of public-sector organizations, bureaucrats are traditionally argued to require either permanent positions and fixed wages, or low-powered performance incentives. This article studies how the performance of top civil servants in Norwegian local governments affects their compensation and turnover. We thereby build on a unique new dataset over the period 1991-2014. Our results indicate that better performing top civil servants obtain a higher compensation and are less likely to be replaced. Nonetheless, these incentives remain low-powered in line with agency theory prescriptions.

Geys, Benny & Qari, Salmai (2017)

Will you still trust me tomorrow? The causal effect of terrorism on social trust

173(3-4) , s. 289- 305. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-017-0477-1 - Full text in research archive

How do people respond to terrorist events? Exploiting the timing of the 2010 wave of the annual ‘Society Opinion Media’ survey in Sweden, we study the causal effect of the Stockholm bombings of 11 December 2010 on Swedish public opinion. Our main contribution is that we draw explicit attention to the link between terrorist events and individuals’ social trust. While we identify a strong effect on individuals’ concern over terrorism, any observed effects with respect to generalised and neighbourhood trust appear to be short-lived—suggesting that isolated terror events have only limited, transitory effects on established social attitudes.

Hassan, Mamdouh & Geys, Benny (2017)

What Do We Value Most In Schools? An Empirical Study of Stakeholders’ Preference Rankings of School Attributes

98(5) , s. 1313- 1327. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12337 - Full text in research archive

Objectives A key question in education policy as well as individuals’ school choice involves the characteristics of schools we value most. It is thereby important to understand any heterogeneity in parents’, teachers’, and school principals’ preference rankings driven by their education level, gender, and age. Method In this article, we propose a survey-based approach to examine preference rankings of diverse school attributes, which accounts for tradeoffs required in real-world choice situations. Results Our results indicate that stakeholders on average rank the “ethical” aspects of schools (such as pupil and staff happiness and equality of opportunities) above their “efficiency” aspects (such as academic achievement or school size). Yet, respondents’ role in the school as well as their education level, gender, and age influence observed preference rankings. Conclusions To avoid biased inferences, survey designs on school preferences should account for the fact that real-world choices in favor of one particular characteristic often imply giving up at least some others. Doing so, we show that parents, teachers, and school principals appear to disagree with the predominant consideration awarded to academic achievement in current education policies.

Kuehnhanss, Colin; Murdoch, Zuzana, Geys, Benny & Heyndels, Bruno (2017)

Identity, threat aversion, and civil servants’ policy preferences: Evidence from the European Parliament

95(4) , s. 1009- 1025. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12348 - Full text in research archive

Distinct policy options are typically characterized by a number of advantages (or ‘opportunities’) and disadvantages (or ‘threats’). The preference for one option over another depends on how individuals within an organization perceive these opportunities and threats. In this article, we argue that individuals' identification with an organization's core aims and objectives constitutes a key determinant of this perception. We propose that stronger identification shifts individuals' attention towards potential threats rather than opportunities in the payoff distribution, encouraging avoidance of negative outcomes. Moreover, we argue that this ‘prevention focus’ in individuals' motivational basis will be stronger under negative than under positive selection strategies. An original survey experiment with civil servants in the European Parliament finds significant evidence supporting the empirical implications of our argument.

Geys, Benny (2017)

Do Voluntary Associations Show their Bright or Dark Side under Adverse Societal Shocks? Evidence from 9/11

46(6) , s. 1189- 1208. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764017718634 - Full text in research archive

In this article, we reassess the relation between association membership and individuals’ feelings about immigrants, thereby focusing on possible shifts in this relation in the wake of negative societal shocks (i.e., the 9/11 terrorist attacks). That is, do such events tighten or loosen the connection between association membership and immigrant intolerance? Using repeated survey data from Flanders (Belgium), our results indicate that there is at best a weak overall connection between association membership and immigrant intolerance. The exception lies with members of socially embedded (or “connected”) associations, which tend to be significantly more tolerant toward immigrants. Interestingly, we find no significant change in the relationship between voluntary association membership and immigrant intolerance in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. This suggests that negative societal shocks have little direct impact on the membership-attitudes relation. The analysis contributes to discussions on the potential “bright” and “dark” sides of civic engagement.

Mahieu, Bram; Geys, Benny & Heyndels, Bruno (2017)

Fiscal fairness as a political argument

70(4) , s. 622- 640. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12151 - Full text in research archive

Governments typically apply several tax instruments. The tax choice literature sees the choice among these as depending on the political costs involved. One source of such costs is (horizontal) inequity in the distribution of the tax burden. In this article, we provide the first empirical test of the question whether and to what extent such inequity affects tax choices. Using data on housing sales and tax policy in Flemish municipalities, we create an indicator for the inequity of the local property tax. The latter is levied on the property's assessed rental value, and its inequity is a by-product of the slow reassessment procedure, leading to a situation in which properties of identical value are taxed very differently. We find clear evidence that municipalities in which property taxation is more inequitable tend to rely less on this tax as a source of municipal revenue.

Geys, Benny & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2017)

Never Change a Winning Policy? Public Sector Performance and Politicians’ Preferences for Reforms

78(2) , s. 206- 216. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12824 - Full text in research archive

Despite the increasing stress on performance in public sector organizations, there is still little empirical evidence on whether—and if so, how—politicians respond to performance information. This article addresses this research gap by linking registry statistics on school performance in Norway's 428 municipalities with data from an information experiment embedded in a survey of local politicians. Findings show that school performance bears only a weak relationship to politicians' preferences for resource-related reforms, but it strongly affects preferences for governance-related reforms, indicating the importance of accounting for heterogeneity across alternative types of (school) reforms. Moreover, local politicians are, on average, well informed about school performance. This reflects the force of local inhabitants' high information level on politicians' accountability.

Geys, Benny & Smith, Daniel Markham (2017)

Political Dynasties in Democracies: Causes, Consequences and Remaining Puzzles

127(605) , s. 446- 454. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12442 - Full text in research archive

Kinship often continues to play an important role in determining the ruling class even under modern democratic elections in a wide range of countries. In recent years, academic interest in the causes and consequences of such dynasties has been rapidly expanding. In this introduction to the Feature, we review existing work on political dynasties’ formation and potential implications for socio-economic outcomes (such as economic growth, distributive policy, and gender representation), and outline a number of questions and challenges that remain important avenues for future research.

Daniele, Gianmarco & Geys, Benny (2016)

Family Ties and Socio-Economic Outcomes in High vs Low Income Countries

52(6) , s. 813- 823. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2015.1098630 - Full text in research archive

Alesina and Giuliano (J. Econ. Growth, 15(2), 2010) illustrate that strong family ties lead to lower geographical mobility and reduced labor force participation of young and female individuals. We extend their analysis by arguing that the effect of strong family ties on economic outcomes depends on a country’s level of economic and institutional development. This cross-country heterogeneity arises because strong family ties not only foster traditional family values (which have disruptive effects on economic outcomes), but also provide economically valuable social networks – especially in societies characterized by weak institutions and limited market access. Empirical evidence using the European and World Value Surveys (EVS/WVS) is supportive of our theoretical argument

Exbrayat, Nelly & Geys, Benny (2016)

Economic Integration, Corporate Tax Incidence and Fiscal Compensation

39(11) , s. 1792- 1811. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12323 - Full text in research archive

Higher corporate taxes are often argued to depress wages (a tax incidence effect), while higher wages may require compensation via lower corporate tax rates (a fiscal compensation effect). Yet, existing empirical evidence ignores that i) both effects are likely to occur simultaneously (necessitating a joint estimation approach), and ii) capital mobility might play a critical moderating role for the strength of both effects. Using a panel dataset comprising 24 OECD countries over the period 1982-2007, we address both these deficiencies. This clearly illustrates the simultaneous existence of tax incidence and fiscal compensation effects. Moreover, capital mobility (and the ensuing relative bargaining power of economic agents) has a significant influence on both the prevalence and strength of these effects.

Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten (2016)

The Limits of Electoral Control: Evidence from Last-Term Politicians

41(4) , s. 873- 898. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/lsq.12136 - Full text in research archive

In modern democracies, politicians’ accountability is often linked to the disciplining mechanism of electoral control. For politicians in their final term, this mechanism is impaired. Using a novel dataset covering 910 members of the UK House of Commons active within the period 1997-2010, we investigate how reduced electoral control affects last-term MPs’ trade-off between work effort inside parliament, leisure, and outside interests. Our main contributions lie in providing the first explicit consideration of (a) MPs’ final-term intra-/extra-parliamentary work balance, and (b) MPs’ reasons for leaving parliament (i.e. retirement, career change, electoral defeat). These extensions provide important fresh insights concerning the boundaries of elections’ disciplining power.

Hassan, Mamdouh & Geys, Benny (2016)

Who Should Pick up the Bill? Distributing the Financial Burden of Technological Innovations in Schools

94, s. 193- 203. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.11.018 - Full text in research archive

Technological innovations in classrooms generally come with substantial financial price tags. Although the distribution of such financial costs is of critical importance to practitioners, (potential) users, and policy-makers, little is known about different stakeholders’ preferences towards who should pick up this bill. In this article, we exploit information obtained from a unique survey in Flanders (Belgium) to help fill this research gap. We thereby particularly assess how financing preferences depend on stakeholders’ role in the educational environment (i.e. public officials, school principals, teachers, ICT administrators and parents) and their knowledge about the true extent of technological innovations’ financial cost. Our main findings indicate that all stakeholders included in our analysis prefer to shift the financial burden of technological innovations at least to some extent onto other stakeholders. Yet, explicitly informing respondents about the high and diverse financial costs of tablets in schools tends to shift preferences towards funding models representing more equitable distributions of the financial burden.

Cancela, Joao & Geys, Benny (2016)

Explaining Voter Turnout: A Meta-Analysis of National and Subnational Elections

42(June) , s. 264- 275. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2016.03.005 - Full text in research archive

Research about voter turnout has expanded rapidly in recent years. This article takes stock of this development by extending the meta-analysis of Geys (2006) in two main ways. First, we add 102 studies published between 2002 and 2015 to the initial sample of 83 studies. Overall, we document only minor changes to the original inferences. Second, since different processes might conceivably play at different levels of government, we exploit the larger sample to separately analyse the determinants of voter turnout in national versus subnational elections. We find that campaign expenditures, election closeness and registration requirements have more explanatory power in national elections, whereas population size and composition, concurrent elections, and the electoral system play a more important role for explaining turnout in subnational elections.

Blockmans, Tom; Geys, Benny, Heyndels, Bruno & Mahieu, Bram (2016)

Bargaining complexity and the duration of government formation: evidence from Flemish municipalities

167(1-2) , s. 131- 143. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-016-0333-8 - Full text in research archive

Government formation processes have attracted a substantial amount of scholarly attention. Yet, only few scholars try to explain the duration of government formations. This article extends the latter literature by examining the relation between the complexity of the bargaining environment and the duration of government formations at the local government level. We show that increased bargaining complexity - reflected in parties’ ideological similarity, a larger number of potential bargaining partners, and an election result allowing for a larger set of mathematically feasible governments - is associated with longer bargaining delays.

Freier, Ronny; Geys, Benny & Holm, Joshua (2016)

Religious Heterogeneity and Fiscal Policy: Evidence from German Reunification

94, s. 1- 12. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2016.05.001 - Full text in research archive

Theoretical work based on social identity theory predicts that population diversity undermines redistributive public policies. This article tests this proposition exploiting an exogenous shock in diversity due to Germany's reuni cation. In contrast to previous work on ethno-linguistic or racial heterogeneity, we speci cally analyze religious diversity, which is an increasingly relevant social cleavage in many countries. Our main results corroborate that increasing religious diversity leads to a change in scal policies in Bavarian municipalities over the 1983-2005 period. Moreover, we nd some evidence of declining individual-level local identi cation over the post-reuni cation period, which suggests that the observed scal e ects are indeed linked to the theoretical mechanism of individuals' social identi cation. Finally, we highlight an important mediating role for the democratic process, since the observed scal e ects strengthen considerably following Bavarian municipalities' rst local elections after the reuni cation migration wave (March 1996) and a legal change allowing local referenda on public policies (October 1995).

Murdoch, Zuzana; Trondal, Jarle & Geys, Benny (2016)

Representative bureaucracy and seconded national government officials in the European Commission

10(4) , s. 335- 349. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12089 - Full text in research archive

The bureaucratic arms of modern international organizations increasingly consist of staff with ambiguous organizational affiliations. This article analyses implications of this trend from the perspective of the Representative Bureaucracy – using seconded national experts (SNEs) in the European Commission (Commission) as the empirical laboratory. Using a variety of datasets, we unveil Commission SNEs’ profiles (to assess their passive representativeness) and link these profiles to their role perceptions (to evaluate their potential for active representation). This illustrates that Commission SNEs’ background characteristics do not match those of their constituent population (i.e. the EU27 population) – suggesting a lack of passive representativeness. However, we also find that their role perceptions are correlated with the policy preferences of their home country population: i.e., SNEs from countries favoring stronger national rather than European regulatory and policy-making powers are more likely to see themselves as a representative of their home country government. This suggests a potential for active representation in terms of SNEs’ home country’s policy preferences.

Hassan, Mamdouh & Geys, Benny (2016)

Expectations, Realizations, and Approval of Tablet Computers in an Educational Setting

17(2) , s. 171- 190. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-015-9270-4 - Full text in research archive

The introduction of new technologies in classrooms is often thought to offer great potential for advancing learning. In this article, we investigate the relationship between such expectations and the post-implementation evaluation of a new technology in an educational setting. Building on psychological research, we argue that i) high expectations (ex ante) can undermine the approval ratings of new technologies (ex post); and ii) individuals’ post-implementation evaluations are more likely to exceed their expectations when they can exert power over the introduction of a new technology. We test these predictions on a sample of 750 respondents from primary and secondary schools in Flanders with and without tablet computers. Our findings are supportive of both theoretical predictions.

Geys, Benny & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2016)

Revenue scarcity and government outsourcing: Evidence from Norwegian local governments

94(3) , s. 769- 788. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12262 - Full text in research archive

It is often said that ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. In this article, we assess whether this also applies to the design of public authorities' service provision. In particular, we evaluate whether revenue scarcity – as an indicator of fiscal stress – induces government outsourcing. In contrast to previous studies, we exploit arguably exogenous variation in local government revenue across time and space to derive stronger inferences on the role of revenue scarcity for outsourcing. Using data from Norwegian local governments covering the period 1995–2012, our main results indicate that a decrease in local government revenues is linked to more outsourcing of both infrastructure and support services.

Trondal, Jarle; Murdoch, Zuzana & Geys, Benny (2015)

Representative Bureaucracy and the Role of Expertise in Politics

3(1) , s. 26- 36. Doi: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v3i1.65 - Full text in research archive

The vast majority of existing studies on bureaucratic representation focus on bureaucracies’ permanent and internal staff. Yet, the rising sophistication of modern democracies and the technocratization of political life are gradually inducing an increased reliance on external experts to assist in the development and implementation of policy decisions. This trend, we argue, raises the need to extend studies of bureaucratic representation to such external and non-permanent experts in governmental affairs. In this article, we take a first step in this direction using seconded national experts (SNEs) in the European Commission as our empirical laboratory. Our results highlight that Commission SNEs do not appear representative of their constituent population (i.e., the EU-27 population) along a number of socio-demographic dimensions. Moreover, we find that the role perception of “experts” is primarily explained by organizational affiliation, and only secondarily by demographic characteristics (except, of course, education).

Trondal, Jarle; Murdoch, Zuzana & Geys, Benny (2015)

The Autonomy of National Officials in the European Commission

Geys, Benny (2015)

Looks Good, You're Hired? Evidence from Extra-Parliamentary Activities of German Parliamentarians

16(1) , s. 1- 12. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/geer.12041

Politicians have been shown to benefit electorally from an attractive physical appearance. Employing data on 614 German MPs, this note explores whether it also affects their success/failure in the market for extra-parliamentary activities. An attractive physical appearance is found to mainly benefit female MPs, especially for private-sector jobs. This is particularly driven by MPs’ perceived likability. While MP’s perceived beauty is shown to have no direct effects for extra-parliamentary activities, our findings suggest important indirect effects.

Daniele, Gianmarco & Geys, Benny (2015)

Organized Crime, Institutions and Political Quality: Empirical Evidence from Italian Municipalities

125(586) , s. F233- F255. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12237 - Full text in research archive

This article assesses how legal institutions affect the influence of politically active criminal organisations on the human capital of elected politicians using data from over 1,500 Southern Italian municipalities in the period 1985–2011. It exploits municipal government dissolutions imposed by the national government for (presumed) mafia infiltration as a source of exogenous variation in the presence of politically active criminal organisations. The results support theoretical predictions that the average education level of local politicians significantly increases when active mafia infiltration of local politics is remedied through the implementation of a stricter legal-institutional framework.

Daniele, Gianmarco & Geys, Benny (2015)

Interpersonal Trust and Welfare State Support

39, s. 1- 12. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2015.03.005

The economic importance of the welfare state has increased strongly over time, which has generated a vast academic literature studying the determinants of (preferences towards) redistribution. This article argues that citizens’ trust in their fellow citizens can play a central role for welfare state support, because it buttresses the belief that others will not use the welfare system inappropriately. Using the fourth wave of the European Social Survey, we confirm a strong positive association between interpersonal trust and welfare state support (controlling for institutional trust). We also show that: i) this link is driven at least in part by the mechanism discussed above; ii) causality runs from interpersonal trust to welfare state support (using a sub-sample of second generation immigrants); and iii) the effect of interpersonal trust appears conditional on the perceived quality of a country’s institutions.

Asatryan, Zareh; Feld, Lars P. & Geys, Benny (2015)

Partial Fiscal Decentralization and Subnational Government Fiscal Discipline: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries

163(3-4) , s. 307- 320. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-015-0250-2 - Full text in research archive

Recent theoretical research suggests that financing sub-national governments’ expenditure out of own revenue sources is linked to more responsible budgeting, because the financial implications of spending decisions then are internalized within a jurisdiction. We test this proposition empirically on a sample of 23 OECD countries over the 1975–2000 period, and find evidence in line with the hypothesis that greater revenue decentralization (measured as sub-national governments’ share of own source tax revenues in general government tax revenue) is associated with improved sub-national government budget deficits/surpluses. This finding is cross-validated with a novel, independent dataset consisting of all 34 OECD member states from 2002 to 2008.

Trondal, Jarle; Murdoch, Zuzana & Geys, Benny (2015)

On Trojan Horses and revolving doors: Assessing the autonomy of national officials in the European Commission

54(2) , s. 249- 270. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12080 - Full text in research archive

National officials working in international bureaucracies regularly invoke the fear that member states strategically use such officials for influencing decision making and agenda-setting to their advantage. This article theoretically analyses conditions under which the autonomy of national civil servants in international bureaucracies might become compromised. The ensuing predictions are then tested using a unique survey among seconded national experts (SNEs) in the European Commission (N ≈ 400). Finally, evaluating the characteristics linked to reduced autonomy among SNEs in the Commission, the article illustrates that these officials are, in practice, likely to be relatively independent from member state influence.

Trondal, Jarle; Murdoch, Zuzana & Geys, Benny (2015)

National officials working for the Commission display a surprising amount of independence from their own governments

Daniele, Gianmarco & Geys, Benny (2015)

Public support for European fiscal integration in times of crisis

22(5) , s. 650- 670. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2014.988639 - Full text in research archive

The current economic crisis has triggered fierce debates among policy-makers and the media across and within European countries about the need for a closer European Fiscal Union. Using a novel dataset derived from the Eurobarometer surveys, this article investigates European citizens’ opinions towards such fiscal integration. We find that both country-level variables (such as expected country-level costs/benefits) and individual-level variables (such as distrust towards EU institutions, ideology and altruism) have significant explanatory power. We also uncover a notable intra-generational divide across young citizens of Euro creditor and Euro debtor countries, and show that this reflects their varying expectations regarding the future costs and benefits of fiscal integration. This demonstrates that the same demographic groups in different countries may have widely varying positions towards fiscal integration.

Murdoch, Zuzana & Geys, Benny (2014)

Institutional dynamics in international organisations: Lessons from the recruitment procedures of the European External Action Service

35(12) , s. 1793- 1811. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840614544558 - Full text in research archive

This article examines how organisational designs develop by proposing a novel theoretical framework that views organisational change as resulting from a dialectic process between interpretive agents. The key claim is that existing formal procedures (such as recruitment processes, our empirical focal point) are subject to involved actors’ interpretive efforts. This results in a bargaining situation based on the interpretations of the principal actors, which may induce a feedback loop whereby the original procedures are amended. The empirical relevance of the theoretical argument is illustrated via a case study of the hiring procedures in the European External Action Service.

Geys, Benny & Vermeir, Jan (2014)

Party Cues in Elections under Multi-Level Governance: Theory and Evidence from US States

12(4) , s. 1029- 1058. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeea.12081 - Full text in research archive

In federal countries, voters’ ability to evaluate the performance of their leaders might be reduced when different levels of government shape policy outcomes. This can blur political accountability. In this article, we analyze how party cues (i.e., politicians’ party membership acting as a cue towards their characteristics) affect voters’ incomplete information in a federal setting.We theoretically show that party cues allow indirect inference regarding politicians using observed policy outcomes, and can alleviate the accountability problem. Empirical evidence from US presidential election results across all 50 US states over the period 1972–2008 supports this proposition. However, party cues also have a downside in that they may reduce politicians’ effort, particularly when politicians at different levels of government are from different parties.

Witte, Kristof De; Geys, Benny & Solondz, Catharina (2014)

Public Expenditures, Educational Outcomes and Grade Inflation: Theory and Evidence from a Policy Intervention in the Netherlands

40, s. 152- 166. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.02.003

This article argues that resource expansion can fail to improve actual student performance because it might cause educators to soften grading standards (i.e., induce grade inflation). Our theoretical model shows that, depending on schools’ and students’ reactions to resource changes, the overall effect of resources on education outcomes is ambiguous. Schools, however, have an incentive to adjust their grading structure following resource shifts, such that grade inflation is likely to accompany resource-driven policies. Exploiting a quasi-experimental policy intervention in the Netherlands, we find that additional resources may indeed induce grade inflation, particularly when the resource increase is limited.

Exbrayat, Nelly & Geys, Benny (2014)

Trade integration and corporate income tax differentials: theory and evidence from OECD countries

21(2) , s. 298- 323. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10797-013-9270-3

Michelsen, Claus; Geys, Benny & Boenisch, Peter (2014)

(De)Centralization and voter turnout: Theory and evidence from German municipalities

159(3-4) , s. 469- 483. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-013-0061-2

A vast academic literature illustrates that voter turnout is affected by the institutional design of elections (e.g., compulsory voting, electoral system, postal or Sunday voting). In this article, we exploit a simple Downsian theoretical framework to argue that the institutional framework of public good provision – and, in particular, the distribution of political and administrative competences across government levels – likewise affects voters’ turnout decisions by influencing the expected net benefit of voting. Empirically, we exploit the institutional variation across German municipalities to test this proposition, and find supportive evidence.

Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten (2014)

Politicians

, s. 1- 4. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_370-1

Geys, Benny (2014)

Better Not Look Too Nice? Employees’ Preferences Towards (Un)Likeable Managers

25(5) , s. 875- 884. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.02.001 - Full text in research archive

Recent research shows that, all else equal, most people prefer likeable colleagues. In this article, two experiments are employed to analyze preferences with respect to (un)likeable ssuperiors. We thereby focus on perceptions of likeability based on appearance rather than as a behavioral characteristic, which allows us to concentrate on the impact of quick, unconscious evaluations in zero-acquaintance situations. The results indicate that, all else equal, managers of higher perceived likeability are less preferred than managers of lower perceived likeability. Such likeability-aversion emerges among male and female respondents, affects male and female managers, and holds both for preferences expressed from the perspective of employees (Experiment 1) or a HR department (Experiment 2).

Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten (2014)

Are Female Legislators Different? Exploring Sex Differences in German MPs’ Outside Interests

67(4) , s. 841- 865. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gss090 - Full text in research archive

This article examines whether sex matters with respect to a type of legislator behaviour that has thus far been neglected in the literature analysing the distinctive nature of female and male legislators: parliamentarians' outside interests. Using data for 614 German Members of Parliament (MPs), our analysis confirms that female MPs on average hold fewer outside jobs than men—especially in private-sector functions. We also find that individual characteristics such as political experience, having (young) children and age reflect sources of this divergence. These findings and their implications are discussed in the light of extensive research on sex and gender effects in other political and labour market settings.

Ashworth, John; Geys, Benny, Heyndels, Bruno & Wille, Fanny (2014)

Competition in the political arena and local government performance

46(19) , s. 2264- 2276. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2014.899679

Competition reduces rent extraction in private-sector firms. In this article, we empirically assess whether it similarly disciplines politicians by evaluating local-level governments’ performance in Flanders. The results indicate that electoral competition – measured via the number of parties competing in elections – significantly positively affects the productive efficiency of municipal policy. Intertemporal competition – measured as the volatility of election outcomes over time – has a similar, but weaker, positive effect. These beneficial effects are mitigated by the fact that competition may lead to more fragmented governments, which is shown to work against their productive efficiency. Overall, though, the beneficial effects outweigh the unfavourable ones in our sample.

Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten (2013)

Moonlighting Politicians: A Survey and Research Agenda

19(1) , s. 76- 97. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2013.737158

Elected representatives in many countries are legally allowed to carry out (un)paid jobs in addition to their political mandate, often referred to as ‘moonlighting’. Despite the important selection and incentive effects such outside positions might engender, academic studies evaluating the prevalence, desirability and/or consequences of politicians’ moonlighting have remained relatively scarce; often due to severe data restrictions. In recent years, however, more stringent disclosure rules have increased data availability, and large-sample analyses are becoming increasingly feasible. Besides surveying recent empirical contributions to this developing research field, this paper also outlines unresolved issues and thereby develops an agenda for future enquiry.

Geys, Benny & Osterloh, Steffen (2013)

Borders as boundaries to fiscal policy interactions? An empirical analysis of politicians' opinions on rivals in the competition for firms

53(4) , s. 583- 606. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12029

Witte, Kristof De & Geys, Benny (2013)

Citizen coproduction and efficient public good provision: Theory and evidence from local public libraries

224(3) , s. 592- 602. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2012.09.002

In both public administration and economics, efficiency is brought forward as an important criterion for evaluating administrative actions. Clearly, its value as an assessment principle depends on our ability to adequately measure efficiency. This article argues that citizen's coproduction in public services requires a careful reassessment of how we approach the measurement of productive efficiency in public service delivery. Theoretically, we illustrate that using observable outcomes (e.g., library circulation, school results, health outcomes, fires extinguished, crimes solved) as output indicators is inappropriate and leads to biased estimates of public service providers' productive efficiency. This bias arises because citizens co-determine final outputs, leaving them at least partly beyond the service providers' control. Empirically, we find supportive evidence of both the existence and importance of such `demand-induced' bias.

Geys, Benny (2013)

Election Cycles in MPs' Outside Interests? The UK House of Commons, 2005-2010

61(2) , s. 462- 472. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2012.00956.x

Geys, Benny; Heinemann, Friedrich & Kalb, Alexander (2013)

Local Government Efficiency in German Municipalities

71(4) , s. 283- 293. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13147-012-0191-x

This article evaluates German local governments’ cost efficiency using a sample of 1021 municipalities in the state of Baden-Württemberg for the year 2001. We thereby concentrate on overall or ‘global’ efficiency scores – rather than estimate efficiency for one particular service – and explicitly account for exogenous or non-discretionary influences. The latter not only corrects for influences possibly beyond the control of local policy-makers, but also allows some indication with respect to the determinants of such ‘global’ efficiency. Our results indicate that there is a substantial divergence in efficiency across municipalities despite a homogeneous institutional setting. As especially smaller municipalities appears less efficient, these results support a case for policy programs aimed at boundary reviews or more extensive inter-communal cooperation among small municipalities

Ben-Bassat, Avi; Dahan, Momi, Geys, Benny & Klor, Esteban F. (2012)

The Impact of the Economic Costs of Conflict on Individuals’ Political Attitudes

18(2) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/1554-8597.1256

A large number of studies show that war and terrorism have a significant effect on individuals’ political attitudes. Yet, this extensive literature does not inspect the mechanisms behind this effect. This paper concentrates on one possible mechanism, by differentiating between the human toll of terror and war and the economic costs they cause. For these purposes we focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and use variation in the level of violence across time and space together with localities’ different exposure to the tourism sector to estimate their respective effects on political attitudes. Our results suggest that whereas fatalities from the conflict make Israelis more willing to grant territorial concessions to the Palestinians, the associated economic costs of conflict do not have a consistent significant effect on individuals’ political attitudes.

Qari, Salmai; Konrad, Kai A. & Geys, Benny (2012)

Patriotism, taxation and international mobility

151(3-4) , s. 695- 717. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-011-9765-3

Patriotic citizens intrinsically prefer living in their native country compared to living in the Diaspora. In this paper, we analyze the consequences of such a “patriotic lock-in” in a world with international migration and redistributive taxation. One implication is that countries with more patriotic populations are associated with higher redistributive taxes. We then combine ISSP survey data with OECD taxation data and provide empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis. Our results provide a word of caution: the Treasury’s inherent interest in patriotic taxpayers may strengthen the political push for patriotism in an age of globalization and increased mobility.

Kalb, Alexander; Geys, Benny & Heinemann, Friedrich (2012)

Value for money? German local government efficiency in a comparative perspective

44(2) , s. 201- 218. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2010.502110

In this paper, we investigate the cost efficiency of German local governments in the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2004 using a stochastic frontier approach. Besides being the first study on German data, we add two elements to the literature. First, we provide a comparative perspective, allowing us to embed our results in the broader literature. Second, unlike most previous studies, we explicitly account for exogenous or non-discretionary influences when estimating municipal efficiency scores. The results suggest that disregarding such exogenous factors can lead to significant and systematic bias in the estimated inefficiency levels. Particularly, underestimation of efficiency occurs for municipalities with high tourist activity, while the reverse is true for municipalities with high unemployment.

Geys, Benny & Murdoch, Zuzana (2012)

Instrumental Calculation, Cognitive Role-Playing, or Both? Self-Perceptions of Seconded National Experts in the European Commission

19(9) , s. 1357- 1376. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2012.677186

Most work studying micro-processes of integration – i.e. how agents develop identities and decision-making behaviours within a particular institution – offers explanations based on either instrumental rationality or socialisation. This article proposes a two-dimensional framework that allows analysing under which conditions both logics of social action co-exist. Our empirical analysis employs a unique dataset from a 2011 survey of all 1098 currently active Seconded National Experts (SNEs) in the European Commission. We find that a) instrumental cost-benefit calculation and cognitive role-playing (as semi-reflexive socialisation) often simultaneously influence SNEs’ (perceptions of their) behaviour, and b) this joint presence of both logics of social action depends on certain scope conditions (i.e., SNEs’ education, length of prior embeddedness and noviceness).

Griesshaber, Nicolas & Geys, Benny (2012)

Civic Engagement and Corruption in 20 European Democracies

14(1) , s. 57- 81. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2011.638084

Geys, Benny (2012)

Association Membership and Generalised Trust: Are Connections Between Associations Losing their Value?

8(1) , s. 1- 15. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2012.665646

Research linking civic engagement to citizens’ democratic values, generalized trust, cooperative norms, and so on often implicitly assumes such connections are stable over time. This article argues that, due to changes in the broader institutional environment, the engagement-values relation is likely to generally lack temporal stability. We investigate this empirically by analysing the engagement-trust relation using World Values Survey (WVS) data from the 1990 and 2000 waves. Overall, our results show that voluntary association memberships remain positively associated with generalized trust in both samples, but evidence that memberships in connected associations are better than in isolated ones appears, at best, scant in more recent years.

Geys, Benny (2012)

Limitations of the KISS Principle and a Strong Organisational Society: A Rejoinder to Wollebaek and Selle

8(2) , s. 201- 206. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2012.686753

In their discussion of my article, Dag Wollebaek and Per Selle agree with my central point that changes in the institutional and socio-political context are likely to affect the engagement-values relation over time, and that more theoretical and empirical research is required to better understand the underlying connections. They then highlight a number of weaknesses in my empirical analysis. First, they criticise the operationalization of the isolated-connected distinction I borrow from Paxton (2002, 2007), and point to the scope of engagement as a way of ‘keeping it simple’. Second, they express disbelief in the apparent strength of the correlations at the individual level compared to the aggregate level in my analysis, and assert that an ‘organizational society of broad scope’ is primary. In this rejoinder, I briefly discuss both comments.

Geys, Benny (2012)

Success and Failure in Electoral Competition: Selective Issue Emphasis under Incomplete Issue Ownership

31(2) , s. 406- 412. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2012.01.005

Political parties are often argued to compete for voters by stressing issues they feel they own – a strategy known as ‘selective emphasis’. While usually seen as an electorally rewarding strategy, this article argues that cultivating ‘your’ themes in the public debate is not guaranteed to be electorally beneficial and may even become counter-productive. It describes the conditions under which ‘selective emphasis’ becomes counter-productive, and applies the argument to recent discussions regarding the strategies of mainstream parties confronting the extreme right.

Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten (2012)

Delegation, Accountability and Legislator Moonlighting: Agency Problems in Germany

21(3) , s. 255- 273. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2012.716040

Members of parliament in many countries are legally permitted to execute (un)paid jobs in addition to their political mandate. It is often argued that such ‘moonlighting’ activities are unproblematic for the chain of democratic delegation and accountability as long as outside interests/earnings are disclosed to citizen-principals; the latter may then sanction (perceived) misconduct through the ballot box. Using principal-agent theory as an analytical framework and the German national parliament as a case study, this paper discusses why the accountability mechanisms of moonlighting disclosure and electoral control are often impaired in practice. We also illustrate that these concerns generalise beyond the German setting.

Geys, Benny & Revelli, Federico (2011)

Economic and political foundations of local tax structures: an empirical investigation of the tax mix of Flemish municipalities

29(3) , s. 410- 427. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1068/c10116r

Witte, Kristof De & Geys, Benny (2011)

Evaluating efficient public good provision: Theory and evidence from a generalised conditional efficiency model for public libraries

69(3) , s. 319- 327. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2010.12.002

Provision of most public goods (e.g., health care, libraries, education, police, fire protection, utilities) can be characterized by a two-stage production process. In the first-stage, basic inputs (e.g., labor and capital) are used to generate service potential (e.g., opening hours, materials), which is then, in the second-stage, transformed into observed outputs (e.g., school outcomes, library circulation, crimes solved). As final outputs are also affected by demand-side factors, conflating both production stages likely leads to biased inferences about public productive (in)efficiency and its determinants. Hence, this paper uses a specially tailored, fully non-parametric efficiency model allowing for both outlying observations and heterogeneity to analyse efficient public good provision in stage one only. We thereby employ a dataset comprising all 290 Flemish public libraries. Our findings suggest that ideological stance of the local government, wealth and density of the local population and source of library funding (i.e., local funding versus intergovernmental transfers) strongly affect library productive efficiency.

Geys, Benny & Konrad, Kai A. (2010)

Federalism and optimal allocation across levels of governance

, s. 32- 46.

Geys, Benny & Murdoch, Zuzana (2010)

Measuring the 'Bridging' versus 'Bonding' Nature of Social Networks: A Proposal for Integrating Existing Measures

44(3) , s. 523- 540. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038510362474

Recent research illustrates that two distinct interpretations and operationalizations of ?bridging? and ?bonding? social networks co-exist in the literature (based on links between diverse networks or between socio-economic groups within a given network, respectively), and that these do not coincide in empirical applications. The present contribution first confirms this conclusion using data from the United Kingdom. Then, we suggest a simple way to integrate both existing approaches into a more general measure of bridging and bonding. Applying this more general index to UK and Flemish data, a) provides stronger empirical support for the idea that memberships in bridging groups are more strongly linked to positive civic values than those in bonding ones, and b) shows that the extended index behaves more consistently across institutional settings (i.e. Flanders and the UK) than both underlying measures independently

Geys, Benny & Murdoch, Zuzana (2008)

How to make head or tail of ‘bridging’ and ‘bonding’?: addressing the methodological ambiguity

59(3) , s. 435- 454.