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4. Electoral competition and platform choice: a computational linguistics approach based on Brazilian data

Type:	Tese
Title:	Electoral competition and platform choice: a computational linguistics approach based on Brazilian data
Author:	Pereira, Leila Albuquerque Rocha
Examination board:	Novaes, Lucas Martins Corbi, Raphael Bottura Estevan, Fernanda Gonçalves de La Fuente Bueno, Natália Salgado
Advisor:	Firpo, Sergio Pinheiro
Academic degree:	Doutorado
Publication Date:	2021
Abstract:	This dissertation empirically investigates some valuable aspects of the electoral competition theories by taking advantage of computational linguistic methods that transform texts into data. I start by employing statistical text analysis methods (i.e., LDA model and Wordscores) to build and describe a unique dataset containing the topics discussed and the partisan-scores of Brazilian mayoral candidates' political platforms in 2012 and 2016 elections. Then, I use this dataset to test some theoretical implications of both the Downsian location models and the Salience Theory. From a Downsian perspective, I investigate the relationship between campaign spending and platform choice by testing whether a candidate's platform positioning strategy, compared to her opponent, is infuenced by the amount of money she can spend in an election. Then, from a Salience Theory perspective, I analyze the relationship between reputation and platform choice by estimating the incumbency effect on a candidate's platform issue concentration. In a nutshell, I find that candidates seem to be making strategic decisions concerning their platform's contents and partisan leaning. The data's descriptive analysis shows a systematic correlation between the candidate's characteristics and her platform's contents. Moreover, the empirical evidence supports the theories that connect platform choice to reputation but not the theories that establish a link between platform choice and campaign spending. In particular, I find that opposing candidates' strategies to diferentiate their platforms do not change significantly depending on the size of their campaign expenditures. Furthermore, I show that incumbents tend to produce more concentrated platforms than challengers.
Keywords (english terms):	Electoral competition political platforms Downsian Models Salience theory natural language processing Latent Dirichlet Allocation wordscore discontinuos regression
Language:	Inglês
CNPq Area:	Ciências Sociais Aplicadas
Copyright:	O INSPER E ESTE REPOSITÓRIO NÃO DETÊM OS DIREITOS DE USO E REPRODUÇÃO DOS CONTEÚDOS AQUI REGISTRADOS. É RESPONSABILIDADE DOS USUÁRIOS INDIVIDUAIS VERIFICAR OS USOS PERMITIDOS NA FONTE ORIGINAL, RESPEITANDO-SE OS DIREITOS DE AUTOR OU EDITOR
Appears in Collections:	Doutorado em Economia dos Negócios

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