increase in the growth rate of M1 during election months of about one tenth of a standard deviation. A similar effect can … neither be detected in established OECD democracies nor in the months leading up to the election. The effect is larger in … election month monetary expansion is demand driven and can be best explained by systemic vote buying. Systemic vote buying …

. Consistent with theories of opportunistic political cycles, this pattern is stronger when election outcomes are uncertain or in …

(1975 - 2009). We find an increase in the growth rate of M1 during election months of about one tenth of a standard … is related to systemic vote buying which requires significant amounts of cash at election times. The finely timed …

of election surveys. I contend that the continuation of some of these practices threatens the credibility of individual … studies and, in some cases, the election-oriented survey enterprise as a whole. In all of these cases, however, I argue that a …