Central to the distributive theory is the idea that members of Congress can use strategic committee assignments to fund pork projects for their districts. Committees that are primarily constituency service based are considered most susceptible to pork barrel politics. The Public Works and Transportation Committee, in particular, has developed a reputation for distributing pork projects. Adler??s (2002) study of six committees found impressive evidence that members of certain committees are able to channel disproportionate benefits to their districts??the lone exception was the Public Works and Transportation Committee. Given the folklore about Public Works and ??pork,?? this result seems odd. In this study, I make two major adjustments to the research design. First, I isolate the dollars spent on committee programs that were not allocated by a formula. Formulas have prior built-in controls that are not subject to bargaining after the formula has been set, and thus are not illustrative of the pork process. Second, I expand the years studied (1983-1996) and analyze the data with a pooled cross-section/time series design, which better controls the potential effects of time on the distribution of federal funds. These modifications do not produce results to reconcile the conflict with congressional folklore, instead they question the generalizability of allocation decisions for constituency service committees.

Abstract 1 – The Importance of Transportation Policies in Local Elections Building and maintaining transportation systems is one of the most important functions of local government. It is a subject that concerns local residents, jurisdictions spend a lot of money on, and local politicians use to their political advantage. This study helps us understand how transportation issues feature in local elections. Through evaluating a dataset of 542 candidates from 219 local election races from 2022, this study explores which candidates for local office are more likely to have transportation policies, what kind of content is included in these policies, and what are the factors that make including different transportation content more or less likely. The analysis primarily uses website campaign content and a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer these questions. I find a variety of factors affect the inclusion of transportation issues at the local level such as variations in governance, partisanship, and regional characteristics like a jurisdiction's size and transportation behavior. It was also evident that defining transportation issues was more common than proposing transportation policy solutions. Overall, this research provides more insight into how transportation policies are included in local elections. Abstract 2 – Saliency of Transportation Policies in State Legislative Elections: The Case of Virginia Transportation systems are expensive and directly impact important issues like climate change, equity, and quality of life. However, it is not clear how important transportation policies are in state-level elections. Using the Virginia 2021 state legislative election, this research uses candidate website data, Twitter data, and data about Virginia House of Delegates districts to answer three questions: which candidates are more likely to have transportation polices, what issues or transportation modes are included, and what factors make candidates more or less likely to focus on certain issues. Using descriptive statistics, and regression methods, this research found transportation issues varied by political party with top overall issues including transportation funding as well as expanding or improving transportation systems. Public transportation was the top non-car mode. Candidates were more likely to include transportation issues if district households had higher car ownership or a lower percentage of single occupancy vehicle commuters. Finally, differences in transportation issues could be partly explained by political party, incumbency, population density, and transportation habits. These results will be helpful for understanding how state government transportation agendas change, can better inform transportation advocacy efforts, and could help transportation professionals better understand the impact of their work. Abstract 3 – Does Voting Affect the Provision of Bus Service? Inequalities in the distribution of bus services are important to understand. This chapter adds to previous literature by exploring why inequalities exist. Specifically, does voting for elected officials affect inequalities in the delivery of bus services? This study explores this question using a quantitative approach as part of a quasi-experimental research design focusing on GoRaleigh in North Carolina and the Milwaukee County Transit System in Wisconsin. The analysis provides evidence of a relationship between voting behavior and bus service. This finding is observed across cities and elections with the relationships holding even when controlling for factors associated with a bureaucratic explanation for changing bus service, like changes to population or jobs. However, the strength of the relationship can change between elections, the type of elected official, and cities. Overall, this work provides more evidence of the politics behind transit service planning, especially the political influences of voting behavior in representative democracies. / Doctor of Philosophy / Abstract 1 – The Importance of Transportation Policies in Local Elections This study helps us understand how transportation issues feature in local elections. Specifically, this study explores which candidates for local office are more likely to have transportation policies, what kind of content is included in these policies, and what are the factors that make including different transportation content more or less likely. I find a variety of factors affect the inclusion of transportation issues at the local level such as variations in local control, partisanship, and regional characteristics like a jurisdiction's size and transportation behavior. Overall, this research provides more insight into how transportation policies are included in local elections. Abstract 2 – Saliency of Transportation Policies in State Legislative Elections: The Case of Virginia While transportation systems affect many important issues, it is not clear how important transportation policies are in state-level elections. Using 2021 Virginia state elections, this research answers three questions: which candidates are more likely to have transportation polices, what issues or transportation modes are included, and what factors make candidates more or less likely to focus on certain issues. This study found top issues included transportation funding as well as expanding or improving transportation systems while public transportation was found to be the top non-car mode. Candidates were more likely to have transportation policies if their districts had higher car ownership rates or a lower percentage of people commuting using a car. Finally, differences in transportation issues could be partly explained by political party, incumbency, population density, and transportation habits. These results could be helpful for understanding state government transportation agendas, can better inform transportation advocacy efforts, and could help transportation professionals better understand the impact of their work. Abstract 3 – Does Voting Affect the Provision of Bus Service? Does voting for elected officials affect the delivery of bus services? This study explores this question by focusing on two transit systems: GoRaleigh in North Carolina and the Milwaukee County Transit System in Wisconsin. The study demonstrates voting behavior has a relationship to changes in bus service. This finding is seen in both cities and multiple elections with the impacts still observable even when considering other factors like changes to population or jobs. However, the size of the voting impact can be different between elections, the type of elected official, and cities. Overall, this work provides more evidence of the politics behind transit service planning.

No description available.

As eleições presidenciais são a principal competição do sistema político brasileiro. Há duas proposições dominantes que perpassam as análises da literatura sobre sua natureza e dinâmica: o Programa Bolsa-Família (PBF) é considerado central e determinante para os resultados eleitorais e teria contribuído, no pleito de 2006, para conformar um realinhamento das bases eleitorais do PT, único partido competitivo em todas as eleições. O programa social é considerado fundamental para explicar a força deste partido no Nordeste e entre eleitores pobres. Nesta tese, por meio de replicação de modelos da literatura e da análise de modelos originais a partir de survey, de dados agregados ao nível municipal e ao nível das urnas, e com a aplicação de diferentes metodologias, procuro debater essas hipóteses, apontando inconsistências e deficiências teóricas, metodológicas e empíricas. Os resultados apontam para diagnósticos alternativos às teses vigentes. Primeiro, procuro argumentar que a relação entre as mudanças eleitorais de 2006 e os perfis sociais dos eleitores ocorrem de forma heterogênea pelas regiões e tipos de localidade, e que, após mensuração adequada, essas flutuações são melhor compreendidas como movimentações de eleitores voláteis, e não como realinhamento de bases eleitorais. Além disso, contrariamente às análises correntes, ressalto que a investigação sobre o efeito eleitoral do PBF não deve ser restrita aos seus beneficiários e nem se pode inferir sua importância no resultado eleitoral a partir da sua distribuição regional. Antes, as análises conduzidas nesta tese revelam que o impacto do programa social para as decisões eleitorais foi mais importante no Sudeste que no Nordeste, e não se restringe a eleitores diretamente beneficiários do programa. Por fim, mostro que, após enquadramento adequado, é possível dizer que o impacto do PBF para o resultado eleitoral não foi tão pronunciado ou determinante dos resultados eleitorais. Do ponto de vista mais geral, meu argumento ressalta que as bases eleitorais de longo-prazo dos partidos influenciam os resultados presentes, matizando a importância das mudanças ocorridas em 2006, e sublinha que o efeito do PBF, assim como de qualquer outra política pública com peso político-eleitoral, não pode ser tomado isoladamente, fora do contexto da disputa eleitoral e política. / The presidential elections are the main competition of the Brazilian political system. The current literature on the subject pointed out two thesis about the nature and dynamic of presidential elections: The Bolsa-Família (PBF) conditional cash transfer program is considered to be central and determinant to the electoral results and in 2006 would have contributed to realign the electoral bases of PT, the only party competitive in all elections. The policy is considered to be fundamental to explain the strength of the party on Northeast among poor electors. On this dissertation I examine these hypothesis and debate the theoretical, methodological and empirical inconsistences and deficiencies of the current literature. In order to do so, I replicate models, analyze novel models looking at surveys and aggregate data on the municipal level and on ballot level, among other methods. The results highlight conclusions different from the standing literature. First, I argue that the correlation between the electoral changes of 2006 and the social profile of electors occur heterogeneously over different regions and localities. If the proper measure is applied, these variations are better understood as a movement of volatile electors and not as realignment of electoral bases. Moreover, contrary to the current literature, I emphasize that the investigation over the electoral effect of the PBF shouldn\'t be restricted to its beneficiaries and neither that it is possible to infer its importance on the electoral result based on its regional distribution. Contrarily, based on the data we gathered, the impact of the PBF to the electoral results was more important on the Southeast than on the Northeast and it is not restricted to electors directly beneficed by the program. Still, I argue that if the adequate framework is adopted, it is possible to say that the impact of the PBF on the electoral results wasn\'t very strong or determinant to the electoral result. I conclude that the parties\' long term electoral bases influence on present results, minimizing the fluctuations that occurred in 2006. As it happens with all the policies with high potential to impact on voters decisions, the effect of the PBF cannot be analyzed separately, it has to be considered inside the context of the electoral and political dispute.

This thesis explores the political economy aspects of the provision of local public goods by higher levels of government. Chapter 1 focuses on local public goods as instruments for special interest politics at the supra-local level, with an emphasis on public infrastructure. To capture the implications of long-run relationships between political parties and their loyal supporters, I set out a dynamic probabilistic voting model which predicts that the geographic pattern of spending depends on the way the government balances long-run `machine politics' considerations with the more immediate concern to win over swing voters. To assess the empirical relevance of both forces, I analyse rich data on road spending from a panel of electoral districts in Québec. Empirical results exploiting the province's linguistic fragmentation provide robust evidence that partisan loyalty is a key driver of the geographic allocation of spending. Chapter 2 proposes a theoretical framework to analyse the coexistence of multiple tiers of government in local public good provision. I study the effects of such partial decentralization on accountability using a two-period political agency model, in which two levels of government are involved in public good provision and voters are imperfectly informed about each government's contribution to the public good. The model predicts that the net effect of a departure from complete centralization (or decentralization) balances the benefits of vertical complementarity against the loss of accountability following from imperfect information and detrimental vertical interactions. Chapter 3 investigates the impact of partial decentralization on local electoral accountability in the context of California's school finance system. I exploit the peculiarities California's school finance system and the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to estimate the extent to which politicians are punished or rewarded for observed policy outcomes, and how this channel is affected by the degree of centralization. Results show that voters are responsive to differences in dropout rates and pupil-teacher ratios, and that incumbents are less likely to be reelected when a district's degree of centralization is high. Increased federal involvement after 2001 is associated with sharper local electoral accountability.

This thesis explores the political economy aspects of the provision of local public goods by higher levels of government. Chapter 1 focuses on local public goods as instruments for special interest politics at the supra-local level, with an emphasis on public infrastructure. To capture the implications of long-run relationships between political parties and their loyal supporters, I set out a dynamic probabilistic voting model which predicts that the geographic pattern of spending depends on the way the government balances long-run `machine politics' considerations with the more immediate concern to win over swing voters. To assess the empirical relevance of both forces, I analyse rich data on road spending from a panel of electoral districts in Québec. Empirical results exploiting the province's linguistic fragmentation provide robust evidence that partisan loyalty is a key driver of the geographic allocation of spending. Chapter 2 proposes a theoretical framework to analyse the coexistence of multiple tiers of government in local public good provision. I study the effects of such partial decentralization on accountability using a two-period political agency model, in which two levels of government are involved in public good provision and voters are imperfectly informed about each government's contribution to the public good. The model predicts that the net effect of a departure from complete centralization (or decentralization) balances the benefits of vertical complementarity against the loss of accountability following from imperfect information and detrimental vertical interactions. Chapter 3 investigates the impact of partial decentralization on local electoral accountability in the context of California's school finance system. I exploit the peculiarities California's school finance system and the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to estimate the extent to which politicians are punished or rewarded for observed policy outcomes, and how this channel is affected by the degree of centralization. Results show that voters are responsive to differences in dropout rates and pupil-teacher ratios, and that incumbents are less likely to be reelected when a district's degree of centralization is high. Increased federal involvement after 2001 is associated with sharper local electoral accountability.

[pt] Usando uma base de dados inédita com informações sobre o gasto do governo federal brasileira com propaganda, nós lançamos luz sobre o comportamento de anunciantes do setor público a relação entre propaganda governamental e voto. Em particular, nós investigamos possíveis motivações políticas por trás da alocação do orçamento dedicado à propaganda governamental e seu impacto sobre voto. No espírito da literatura de distributive politics, primeiro nós calculamos a correlação entre gasto com anúncios por entes públicos e votos no partido do governo no nível local. Em seguida, nós exploramos a variação exógena gerada pela cobertura de sinais de rádio para testar a hipótese de que o gasto com propaganda aumenta os votos recebidos pelo partido do governo. Nossos resultados sugerem que, ainda que resultados de eleições passadas prevêem onde no território o governo anuncia, os eleitores não parecem ser persuadidos pelos anúncios a votar em favor do partido no poder. / [en] Using a unique data set of central government expenditure on advertising in Brazil, we shed light on the behavior of public advertisers and the relation between government ads and voting. In particular, we investigate political motivations behind the allocation of the advertisement budget by the federal government and its impacts on voting. Borrowing insights from the literature of distributive politics, we first correlate ad money and votes for the government s party on the local level. Next, we exploit plausible exogenous variation on radio signal coverage to test if money spent on ads turn into votes for the government s party. Our findings show that although past presidential election outcomes predict where in the territory the government places ads, voters do not seem to be persuaded by those ads to favor the party in power.

Cette thèse analyse les fondements et l'évolution de l'économie et de la gestion de l'eau au Liban dans ses cadres juridiques, institutionnels et politiques. L'étude s'appuie sur une méthodologie mixte, à la fois qualitative, à travers des études de terrains et celle de la littérature existante, et quantitative, en utilisant des outils d'analyse économétrique. Nous avons pris comme grille de lecture les liens entre les modes de production et d'usage de l'eau, la nature de la propriété foncière et sa structure dans une démarche d'économie politique. L'étude se compose de cinq chapitres. Notre premier chapitre, élaboré à partir d'une lecture critique de la littérature économique qui traite de la valeur de la ressource et de sa rareté, remet en cause la notion de crise de l'eau. Il propose une critique des paradigmes globalisés, notamment la gestion par bassin et la bonne gouvernance, qui sont à la base de la notion de Gestion Intégrée des Ressources en Eau (GIRE) d'inspiration libérale. En dépassant ces théories à l'aide d'une approche historico-matérialiste, ce chapitre construit notre grille de lecture d'un "paysage de l'eau" en mobilisant la théorie de Wittfogel des sociétés hydrauliques et la théorie des "moments" développée par David Harvey. Le deuxième chapitre suit chronologiquement et sur un temps long l'évolution juridico-institutionnelle de la gestion de la ressource depuis l'Empire ottoman et le mandat français sur le Liban jusqu'à la construction nationale entre l'indépendance et la guerre civile libanaise. Notre analyse reconstitue les fondements historiques de la relation du pouvoir aux régimes fonciers durant ces périodes. Nous développons en particulier les éléments qui sont à la source de la formulation de la vision de la mission hydraulique libanaise afin de présenter une interprétation de la relation de l'Etat à l'eau et le discours dominant de la gestion de la ressource. Le troisième chapitre expose les caractéristiques socio-spatiales du service d'eau potable et d'assainissement dans la phase de reconstruction. Il analyse la nature de la fragmentation institutionnelle des autorités publiques ainsi que la politique de l'eau engendrée par l'ajustement structurel et par les paradigmes néolibéraux, notamment, l'adoption des principes de la GIRE par le gouvernement libanais et la préparation du terrain pour des contrats de Partenariat Public-Privé. Le quatrième chapitre propose un modèle formalisé d'économie publique qui nous informe par ses résultats économétriques sur les critères d'allocation des projets de l'eau durant les deux dernières décennies. Les résultats économétriques de ce modèle vont confirmer notre hypothèse de base en montrant que seule la distance politique apparaît comme facteur décisionnel dans l'allocation des fonds aux régions, sans prise en compte de leurs caractéristiques socio-économiques et environnementales. Le cinquième chapitre étudie la question de l'irrigation et sa place dans les politiques agricoles du pays. Dans le fil de notre analyse sur la relation du pouvoir à l'eau, nous revenons sur les privilèges des grands propriétaires terriens dans l'accès aux subventions pour une production intensive en eau à destination des pays du Golfe. Ce chapitre pose la relation de l'eau au système alimentaire du pays en exposant le commerce et l'empreinte en eau virtuelle du pays. Finalement, nous utilisons un modèle de gravité commercial pour analyser la place de l'eau dans le processus de libéralisation du marché agro-alimentaire du pays. En conclusion, notre lecture de l'évolution du processus socio-naturel du paysage de l'eau confirme que les modes de production, d'usage et d'appropriation de la ressource hydrique au Liban sont le produit d'une relation étroite entre la propriété foncière et le pouvoir, héritée de l'histoire politique du pays et maintenue par son système confessionnel. / This thesis analyses the foundations and the evolution of the water economy and management in Lebanon by emphasizing the legal, institutional and political frameworks. The study uses a mixed approach combining a qualitative methodology, through surveys, interviews and documentation and a quantitative approach using econometric modeling. By composing our conceptual framework, we seek to define the political economy of the resource in Lebanon and the ties linking water use to land tenure structures. The study is composed of five chapters. Our first chapter reviews the economic literature dealing with the water value and scarcity and addresses a criticism concerning globalized paradigms, mainly, river basin management, good governance and the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). Going beyond those theories and using a historic-materialist approach, we propose our analytical framework of a "waterscape" combining the hydraulic societies theory developed by Karl Wittfogel and the "moments" approach of David Harvey. Our second chapter explores, by adopting a chronological approach over a long period, the evolution of the legal and the institutional structures of water management in Lebanon. This chapter covers four centuries of the Levant territories under the Ottoman Empire, followed by the French mandate over Lebanon and, finally, the national construction phase between the independence and country's civil war. Our analysis seeks to understand the historical foundations of the relationship between land tenure regimes and social power during those periods. We also develop in this chapter the pilars that drove the Lebanese hydraulic mission in order to present an interpretation of the dominant discourse in the water management. Our third chapter reviews the socio-spatial characteristics of the water and wastewater infrastructures during the reconstruction period. We extend our analysis to depict the institutional fragmentation characterizing the water public authorities in Lebanon. We emphasize on the water policies undertaken in the country during this recent period under structural adjustment and neoliberal paradigms, mainly, the adoption of the IWRM principles by the Lebanese government and the ground preparation to Public-Private Partnerships. The fourth chapter offers a public good model analyzing the concerns behind the allocation of water projects during the last two decades. Econometric results clearly approve our hypothesis that the distributive politics are solely driven by partisanship concerns during this period with no consideration about socio-economical and environmental features of regions. The fifth chapter develops the links of water use to the Lebanese agricultural economy in order to understand the main drivers of irrigation. We shed the light on the privileges of big landowner in accessing to subsidies following a water intensive production destined to the Gulf countries. This chapter detects the link between country's food system and water by presenting the virtual water balance and food water footprint. Finally, the chapter verifies the state of water in the liberalization process of the country by using a gravity model. From our reading of the socio-natural process of water in Lebanon, our results show that the modes of use, production and appropriation of the resource in the country are produced by a close relation between land property and power, an inherited link from the political history of Lebanon maintained by the confessional system.

As eleições presidenciais são a principal competição do sistema político brasileiro. Há duas proposições dominantes que perpassam as análises da literatura sobre sua natureza e dinâmica: o Programa Bolsa-Família (PBF) é considerado central e determinante para os resultados eleitorais e teria contribuído, no pleito de 2006, para conformar um realinhamento das bases eleitorais do PT, único partido competitivo em todas as eleições. O programa social é considerado fundamental para explicar a força deste partido no Nordeste e entre eleitores pobres. Nesta tese, por meio de replicação de modelos da literatura e da análise de modelos originais a partir de survey, de dados agregados ao nível municipal e ao nível das urnas, e com a aplicação de diferentes metodologias, procuro debater essas hipóteses, apontando inconsistências e deficiências teóricas, metodológicas e empíricas. Os resultados apontam para diagnósticos alternativos às teses vigentes. Primeiro, procuro argumentar que a relação entre as mudanças eleitorais de 2006 e os perfis sociais dos eleitores ocorrem de forma heterogênea pelas regiões e tipos de localidade, e que, após mensuração adequada, essas flutuações são melhor compreendidas como movimentações de eleitores voláteis, e não como realinhamento de bases eleitorais. Além disso, contrariamente às análises correntes, ressalto que a investigação sobre o efeito eleitoral do PBF não deve ser restrita aos seus beneficiários e nem se pode inferir sua importância no resultado eleitoral a partir da sua distribuição regional. Antes, as análises conduzidas nesta tese revelam que o impacto do programa social para as decisões eleitorais foi mais importante no Sudeste que no Nordeste, e não se restringe a eleitores diretamente beneficiários do programa. Por fim, mostro que, após enquadramento adequado, é possível dizer que o impacto do PBF para o resultado eleitoral não foi tão pronunciado ou determinante dos resultados eleitorais. Do ponto de vista mais geral, meu argumento ressalta que as bases eleitorais de longo-prazo dos partidos influenciam os resultados presentes, matizando a importância das mudanças ocorridas em 2006, e sublinha que o efeito do PBF, assim como de qualquer outra política pública com peso político-eleitoral, não pode ser tomado isoladamente, fora do contexto da disputa eleitoral e política. / The presidential elections are the main competition of the Brazilian political system. The current literature on the subject pointed out two thesis about the nature and dynamic of presidential elections: The Bolsa-Família (PBF) conditional cash transfer program is considered to be central and determinant to the electoral results and in 2006 would have contributed to realign the electoral bases of PT, the only party competitive in all elections. The policy is considered to be fundamental to explain the strength of the party on Northeast among poor electors. On this dissertation I examine these hypothesis and debate the theoretical, methodological and empirical inconsistences and deficiencies of the current literature. In order to do so, I replicate models, analyze novel models looking at surveys and aggregate data on the municipal level and on ballot level, among other methods. The results highlight conclusions different from the standing literature. First, I argue that the correlation between the electoral changes of 2006 and the social profile of electors occur heterogeneously over different regions and localities. If the proper measure is applied, these variations are better understood as a movement of volatile electors and not as realignment of electoral bases. Moreover, contrary to the current literature, I emphasize that the investigation over the electoral effect of the PBF shouldn\'t be restricted to its beneficiaries and neither that it is possible to infer its importance on the electoral result based on its regional distribution. Contrarily, based on the data we gathered, the impact of the PBF to the electoral results was more important on the Southeast than on the Northeast and it is not restricted to electors directly beneficed by the program. Still, I argue that if the adequate framework is adopted, it is possible to say that the impact of the PBF on the electoral results wasn\'t very strong or determinant to the electoral result. I conclude that the parties\' long term electoral bases influence on present results, minimizing the fluctuations that occurred in 2006. As it happens with all the policies with high potential to impact on voters decisions, the effect of the PBF cannot be analyzed separately, it has to be considered inside the context of the electoral and political dispute.

村里組織是台灣實施地方自治的最基層編組，而村里資源如何運用與分配，更是影響地方自治行政功能甚鉅，然過去研究鮮少討論村里公共資源的分配政治現象。於此，本研究以政治學的分配理論為基礎，採取質性研究方法，以村里基層工作經費為研究主軸，透過深入訪談及文件分析探討村里長是分配村里資源的情形，並分析公所與村里長之間委託-代理關係的監督失靈現象。 研究結果顯示，村里長分配村里資源的模式偏向Cox-McCubbins的模型，村里長以是否為「選舉票倉區」，作為分配村里基層工作經費的基準，而鄉鎮公所與村里長之間的委託-代理關係，則因資訊不對稱及里幹事聯繫失衡對村里長的行政監督有所失靈。 基於研究發現，本文建議，村里基層工作經費應依照村里的大小及人口予以公式化的補助金分配，此外村里長與公所之間的行政責任釐清，可助於減少資訊不對稱的問題，最後村里長運用村里資源的情形應建立衡量指標，落實稽核制度。本文為一初探性嘗試，提供台灣分配政策與政治研究另外一種思考的面向，並且提供未來台灣分配政治研究的實證基礎。 / Village and Neighborhood organization is the most basic unit of local governance in Taiwan, and how the village and neighborhood uses and allocates resources has important impact on the local self-government administration. However, existing research rarely discusses distributive politics of public resources in the village arena. Therefore, based on the perspective of distributive theory, this study explores the allocation of village resources by in-depth interviews and archival research. It further presents the supervision failure by township, on village and neighborhood. The results of this study confirm Cox-McCubbins ’s model on resources allocation. The village and neighborhood chiefs use "election support zone" as criteria to allocate the village and neighborhood funds. The principal-agency relationship between township and village was disconnected due to information asymmetries and loss of contact with the village secretary, which leads to the failure of administrative supervision on village chiefs regarding allocation of the funds.. This study proposes three suggestions for reforms. First, the village and neighborhood funds should be distributed in accordance with a formula based on the size of the village and neighborhood. Second, the administrative responsibility should be clarified between the village and neighborhood chief and townships to reduce the information asymmetry problem. Finally, the indicators measuring the effectiveness of the fund’s usage, should be constructed in order to enforce the audit system. This research is a pilot attempt to provide another perspective and empirical analysis on the distributive policy at local level. It has theoretical and empirical implications for distributive politics.