Regionalizing Patronage? Federal Resource Allocation and Party Politics in Spain

Abstract: Does federalism enhance patronage practices? To the degree that subnational governments are responsible for significant portions of total public spending in politically decentralized systems, the study of the institutional facilitators of patronage can be fruitfully advanced by mapping out the territorial distribution of political and economic resources. Using data from intergovernmental transfers in Spain—an often-cited case of patronage-driven electoral mobilization—we find that, unexpectedly, Spanish regions that have a regional-party dominant system do not necessarily 'over-fish' patronage resources. This apparent inconsistency is explained by the fact regionalist parties are more likely to flourish in economically advantaged regions, which are normally more interested in deepening fiscal co-responsibility (which makes the reliance on patronage and pork-barrelling less likely).