| Abstract: | Governments are among the largest spenders in most countries, and their spatial allocation policies have considerable impact on variation in levels of well-being. In a preliminary attempt to develop a theory to account for the geography of government spending, this note uses electoral variables to estimate interstate variations in federal allocations to states within the U.S.A., based on a model of the politician as a vote-plurality maximizer. Results of the preliminary tests are encouraging and suggest lines for further investigation. |
