The Contemporary Japan Group at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Social Science

(ISS, or Shaken), welcomes you to a lecture by

Amy Catalinac

(New York University)




Tournaments, Prizes, and Political Support:

Explaining LDP Dominance in House of Representatives Elections



*DATE AND PLACE*

Thursday, June 21, 2018 from */6:00/*-7:30 p.m. at Akamon Sﾅ紅ﾅ贀 Kenkyﾅｫtﾅ贀 Room 549, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus, University of Tokyo



*ABSTRACT*

How do politicians motivate people to turn out and support them? We posit that incumbents have incentives to construct tournaments between groups in their electoral districts and distribute rewards to those groups based on the level of electoral support provided. We test these propositions in Japan, where politicians affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have emerged from 19 of the past 21 elections to the House of Representatives with the ability to control government. Using municipalities as the relevant, discernible groups and discretionary transfers as the prize, we employ new data on 3,300+ Japanese municipalities between 1980-2000 to show that when the municipalities in an electoral district are ranked according to their level of support for the LDP, those at higher ranks get larger rewards, with the difference in size of the rewards increasing at higher ranks. We also find that when the municipalities in a district vary in size, they receive larger prizes for lower levels of electoral support. Our findings support the theory and shed new light on several puzzles in Japanese politics, such as why LDP politicians continue to spend time on pork after electoral reform, and why we do not observe pork flowing to districts where the LDP garners more votes.



*SPEAKER*

Amy Catalinac is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics at New York University. After earning her Ph.D. in Government at Harvard University in 2011, she taught at Australian National University and Harvard University. Her book, Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan: From Pork to Foreign Policy was published with Cambridge University Press in 2016. Other work has been published in the American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, Foreign Policy Analysis, Politics and Policy, Japan Forum, and Political Science. Professor Catalinac has spent close to five years in Japan, where she has observe election campaigns, conducted interviews with political actors at different levels of the Japanese government, and interned for the Liberal Democratic Party. She teaches courses on international relations, comparative politics, and Japanese politics and foreign policy.



*CONTEMPORARY JAPAN GROUP*

The ISS Contemporary Japan Group provides English-speaking residents of the Tokyo area with an opportunity to hear cutting-edge research in social science and related policy issues, as well as a venue for researchers and professionals in or visiting Tokyo to present and receive knowledgeable feedback on their latest research projects. Admission is free and advance registration is not required. Everyone is welcome.

For more information, including maps and a list of past lectures, please visit our website:

http://web.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cjg/

or contact

Gregory W. NOBLE (noble@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp <mailto:noble@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp>)