Replication Data for "Removing Boundaries, Losing Connections: Electoral Consequences of Local Government Reform in Japan"

In this article we examine the role of local politicians in affecting national-level election outcomes by focusing on the drastic municipal mergers in Japan that took place in the early 2000s. Specifically, we argue that the political party that relies most extensively on local politicians’ efforts for electoral mobilization and monitoring will suffer an electoral slump when municipalities are merged and the number of municipal politicians is swiftly reduced. We empirically show that municipalities with a history of mergers exhibit significantly lower voter turnout and obtain a smaller vote share for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in national elections when compared to other municipalities without an experience of mergers. This result indicates that municipal politicians are indispensable human resources for LDP candidates running for the national parliament.

本文以21世纪初日本实施的大规模市町村合并为研究场景，探讨地方政客对国家级选举结果的影响作用。具体而言，本文提出：若某政党高度依赖地方政客开展选举动员与监督工作，则在市町村合并且地方议员席位大幅缩减的背景下，该政党将遭遇选举颓势。实证结果表明，与未经历过合并的市町村相比，有合并历史的市町村在国家级选举中的选民投票率显著更低，且执政的自由民主党（Liberal Democratic Party，简称LDP）所获得的得票率也更低。该结果表明，地方议员是参选国会的自民党候选人不可或缺的人力资源。