Distance and Decision Makers – The heterogeneity in Irish Sports Capital Funding

O'Connor, Sean (2016): Distance and Decision Makers – The heterogeneity in Irish Sports Capital Funding.

Abstract

Work on geographically targeted spending and its electoral connections, particularly in a sporting context is a well-studied phenomena. However, much, if not all examination has tended to focus on grants as being homogenous without taking into the account the heterogeneity of awards. Therefore, this paper decomposes grants into different types of facilities (All, Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Soccer and Multisport) and tests whether the theory of “sports-pork” holds for all. Secondly, the common binary measure to examine bias is replaced with a new distance variable, which measures the distance between an individual’s hometown and successful club. Finally, for the first time a new relationship is examined, noting the difference between a grant a club applied for relative to what it received. Successful applicants geographically proximate to the Minister for Sport, Finance and Taoiseach receive larger awards, however also lower portions of applied funding. Moreover, examining individual specific effects the bias in distribution for both the Minister of Sport and Taoiseach has decreased under recent individuals.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Pork-Barrel, Political Connections, Capital Grant, Sport-Pork, Lobbying, Ireland
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H50 - General; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics

References

Archer, J.C. (1983) The Geography of Federal Fiscal Politics in the United States of America; An Explanation, Government and Policy, 1, 377-400.

Bailey, S.J, & Connolly, S. (1997). The National Lottery: A Preliminary Assessment of Net Additionality. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 44(1), 100-112.

Bickers, K.N., & Stein, R.M. (1996) The electoral dynamics of the federal pork barrel, American Journal of Political Science, 40(4), 1300-1326.

Cain, B, Ferejohn, J, & Fiorina, M. (1990) The Personal Vote: Constituency Service and Electoral Independence. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

Carey, J.M, & Shugart, M.S. (1995) Incentives to cultivate a personal vote: a rank ordering of electoral formulas, Electoral Studies, 14(4), 417-439.

Census: Small Area Population Statistics (2011), Central Statistics Office. [online] Accessed 4/3/16, from: http://www.cso.ie/en/census/census2011smallareapopulationstatisticssaps/

Considine, J., Coffey, S., and Kiely, D. (2004). Irish Sports Capital Funding: A public choice perspective. European Sport Management Quarterly. 4(3), 150-169.

Considine, J., Crowley, F., Foley, S., & O’Connor, M. (2008). Irish National Lottery Sports Capital Grant Allocations, 1999-2007: Natural Experiments on Political Influence. Institute of Economic Affairs, 28(3), 38-44.

Considine, J., & Doran, J. (2016). An evaluation of an informal rule for the allocation of sports capital funding. Public Choice, 168(1), 43-54.

Cox. G.W, & McGubbins, M.D. (1986) Electoral politics as a redistributive fame. The Journal of Politics, 62(3), 370-389.

Denemark, D. (2000) Partisan pork barrel in parliamentary systems: Australian constituency-level grants, The Journal of Politics, 62(3), 896-915.

Delaney, L, & Fahey, T. (2005). Social and economic value of sport in Ireland. Books and Monographs 180. Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin.

Department of Transport Tourism and Sport (Various Years) Sports Capital Grants.

GAA (2015). Membership: General Information [online] [cited 15 October 2015] Available from Internet URL: https://www.gaa.ie/clubzone/club-info/membership/.

Gaunt, C. (1999) Sports Grants and the Political Pork Barrel: An Investigation of Political Bias in the Administration of Australian Sports Grants, Australian Journal of Political Science, 34(1), 63-74.

Golden, M, & Picci, L. (2008) Pork-barrel politics in postwar Italy, 1953-94, American Journal of Political Science, 52(2), 268-289.

Hoare, A.G. (1983) Pork-barrelling in Britain, Government and Policy, 1, 413-438.

Hoare, A.G. (1992) Transport Investment and the Political Pork Barrel: A Review and the Case of Nelson, New Zealand, Transport Reviews, 12(2), 131-151.

Keating, R.J. (1999) Sports Pork: The Costly Relationship between Major League Sports and Government, New York, Agathon Press.

Levitt, S.D, & Synder, J.M. (1995) Political parties and the distribution of federal outlays, American Journal of Political Science, 39(4), 958-980.

Lindbeck, A, & Weibull, J.W. (1987) Balanced-budget redistribution of federal outlays. American Journal of Political Science, 39(4), 958-980.

Lunn, P., Kelly, E. & Fitzpatrick N. (2013). Taking Up and Dropping Out of Sport and Exercise in Ireland. Research Series. Number 33. Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin.

Quirk, J., & Fort, R.D. (1997) Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports, Princeton: Princeton University Press

Stein, R.M., & Bickers, K.N. (1994) Congressional elections and the pork barrel, The Journal of Politics, 56(2), 377-399.

Stilger, G.J. (1971) The Theory of Economic Regulation, Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science, 3-21.

Suiter, J., & O’Malley, E. (2014a) Yes, minster: the impact of decision-making rules on geographically targeted particularistic spending. Parliamentary Affairs

Suiter, J., & O’Malley, E. (2014b). Chieftains delivering: Testing different measures of 'pork' on an Irish data set of discretionary sports grants. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. 24, 115-24.

Weingast, B.R. (1994) Reflections on distributive politics and universalism, Political Research Quarterly, 47(2), 319-327.

Zaretsky, A.M. (2001) Should cities pay for sports facilities? Regional Economist, April, 1-7.