What Wins Votes: Why Some Politicians Opt Out of Clientelism

In a context where clientelism is widespread, why do some politicians choose not to condition the delivery of goods and services to citizens on individual political behavior? I argue that the answer to this question lies in the heretofore unexamined electoral costs of clientelism: clientelism decreases support from nonpoor constituents even while it generates votes from among the poor. Taking into account these costs and other factors that shape politician incentives, I posit that the interaction between political competition and poverty will explain variation in clientelism. I test this claim using an original measure of clientelism that assesses mayoral involvement in social policy implementation in Argentine municipalities. The results of statistical analysis suggest that high levels of political competition are compatible with clientelism when poverty is also high. Only when high competition is coupled with low rates of poverty does clientelism decline.     

鸡毒支原体鸡滑液囊支原体和副鸡禽杆菌三重PCR检测方法的建立

鸡毒支原体(MG)、鸡滑液囊支原体(MS)、副鸡禽杆菌(APG)三重PCR诊断对于鸡呼吸道疾病的鉴别诊断和防控有着重要意义。本次试验首先对三重PCR反应条件进行优化,之后对多种病原的DNA进行扩增以确定本方法的特异性,调整MG、MS和APG的DNA浓度以确定本方法的敏感性。结果显示,利用优化后的反应条件,本试验建立的诊断方法能够同时扩增出长度为453 bp(MG)、328 bp(MS)和241 bp(APG)的特异性片段,而大肠杆菌、鸡白痢沙门菌、禽多杀性巴氏杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌和阴性对照样品在检测时则无条带产生。对三种病原的混合DNA进行10倍梯度稀释,确定MG、MS和APG的最低检出量为5×10^-3ng/μL。对37份临床样品的检测结果表明,三重PCR的检出率和单重PCR的检测结果一致,且可同时检测出两种或三种病原同时感染。上述结果表明,本试验建立的MG、MS和APG三重PCR诊断方法具有良好的特异性、较高的灵敏性,可用于鸡呼吸道病的诊断和防控。