Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Electoral Responses to Proximity of Healthcare

Expressway to Power: Infrastructure Projects and Political Support

“…Our work is also related to the literature on the relative electoral benefits of public infrastructure projects and individually-targeted welfare programs (Adiguzel et al, 2020;Bardhan et al, 2020;Berman et al, 2011;Levitt & Snyder Jr, 1997;Manacorda et al, 2011). The evidence on the political advantages of either type of government spending is mixed, but there is growing evidence that they can raise political support at the level of the individual.…”

“…Last, but not least, our paper is related to studies of the impacts of several projects implemented by the AKP over the past two decades. These include the family physician program (Adiguzel et al, 2020;, expansion of the natural gas network , and linking cities to export ports (Cos ¸ar & Demir, 2016). With the exception of Adiguzel et al (2020) who examine political benefits in local elections in Istanbul, our paper differs from these in focusing on how the visible expressway expansion project has contributed to extending political support for the AKP across the country.…”

“…These include the family physician program (Adiguzel et al, 2020;, expansion of the natural gas network , and linking cities to export ports (Cos ¸ar & Demir, 2016). With the exception of Adiguzel et al (2020) who examine political benefits in local elections in Istanbul, our paper differs from these in focusing on how the visible expressway expansion project has contributed to extending political support for the AKP across the country. We further show that other less visible programs, while delivering economic and social benefits, do not have the same electoral benefits.…”

The Topography and Sources of Multidimensional Poverty in Turkey

“…For instance Marschall et al (2016) examined the impact of public housing policies by pointing out that access to public housing has a strong effect on voting patterns. Recently, Adiguzel et al (2020) examined the impact of healthcare reform of the post-2000s and underlined that falling distance to family housing centers increases the voting for the incumbent political parties in Turkey. More remarkably, this influence is observed to be higher among the less-educated individuals.…”