The effect of public financing on candidate reemergence and success in elections

In this paper, I estimate the causal effect of public funding of elections on candidates' reemergence and success using a regression discontinuity design in the context of South Korean municipal legislative elections. I find that public financing has no overall effect on candidate reemergence and success in a subsequent election. I do find, however, that campaign expense reimbursement has a positive effect on those who are formerly underrepresented in politics, especially women, in whose case it increases the probability of running again by 24.6 percentage points and that of winning the next election by 10.1 percentage points. I also find some suggestive evidence that campaign expense reimbursement can help female candidates become career politicians. •Public financing has no overall effect on candidate reemergence and success.•However, public financing is effective for a subset of candidates, especially women.•Public financing can help female candidates become career politicians.