Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil's Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes
利用巴西随机审计公开报告，发现披露腐败信息显著影响现任官员的选举表现，且当地电台传播会放大这一效果，说明知情选民和本地媒体对政治问责的重要性。
This paper uses publicly released audit reports to study the effects of disclosing information about corruption practices on electoral accountability. In 2003, as part of an anticorruption program, Brazil's federal government began to select municipalities at random to audit their expenditures of federally transferred funds. The findings of these audits were then made publicly available and disseminated to media sources. Using a data set on corruption constructed from the audit reports, we compare the electoral outcomes of municipalities audited before versus after the 2004 elections, with the same levels of reported corruption. We show that the release of the audit outcomes had a significant impact on incumbents' electoral performance, and that these effects were more pronounced in municipalities where local radio was present to divulge the information. Our findings highlight the value of having a more informed electorate and the role played by local media in enhancing political selection.