1 The politics of public spending. Part I – The logic of vote buying

When do politicians have an incentive to improve public service delivery to the poor? A substantial literature in political science, and among economists in the political economy field, has addressed the political incentives behind the provision of “pork ” (i.e. divisible public spending projects) and “clientelism ” (i.e. the provision of private rewards to clients by a patron). This paper provides a general framework to understand diverse concepts such as patronage, spoils, clientelism, pork or particularistic spending. It argues that the propensity for politicians to deliver clientelism instead of public services to the poor is eroded as the process of modernization reduces its demand by poor citizens, and political competition, credibility, centralization and public service reform reduces it