Launch of the study: Political Clientelism and Local Public Investments: Evidence, Risks and Mitigation Policies (updated edition)

The purpose of the study is to identify the phenomenon of political clientelism in the financial allocations from the central level to local public authorities and to assess its level both at the aggregate level and at the individual level on different types of funds. According to the new edition of the study, the allocation of budgetary sources from the central to the local level based on political criteria continues to be a common practice, as revealed by the State Budget for 2021. Thus, estimates show that the political affiliation is statistically significant and is closely linked to transfers for capital expenditures. It is predictable that territorial administrative units headed by people close to the majority in the parliament will receive much larger transfers compared to districts and localities administered by people not affiliated with the government. According to the estimations, the localities that have mayors, who are representatives of the ruling parties, according to the State Budget for 2021 will benefit from inter-budgetary transfers by 40.2% more than the transfers granted to cities and villages which have administrations not affiliated with the government. 

This situation is explained by the fact that the distribution of transfers for capital expenditures is not properly regulated, while for the rest for transfers from the state budget to local budgets, where political clientelism is not so obvious, there are clear rules on the distribution of public funds. For example, general-purpose transfers for LPA II are determined by the number of population and the area of the territorial unit. Transfers for road infrastructure for LPA II are determined by road length. While transfers for road infrastructure for LPA I are calculated according to the number population (so, the politicians’ discretion is significantly limited, which also limits the political bias in the allocation of transfers). 

The working language is Romanian, but simultaneous interpretation into the English and Russian will be provided during the event.

The event requires preventive registration. The attendees will receive the Zoom link via email. 

The agenda   Registration 

---

The Study ”Political Clientelism and Local Public Investments: Evidence, Risks and Mitigation Policies” is developed within the Project “Inform, empower and act! Civil Society for Better Budgetary Governance in Moldova”, implemented by the Independent Think-Tank ”Expert-Grup”, Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) and Eastern Europe Studies Centre (EESC), co-financed by the European Union (EU) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

 

This event has already taken place; registrations are closed.