Migration and attitudes to vote buying: a survey experiment in Morocco 

A longstanding academic debate has shown that the exchange of votes for material goods is a not uncommon occurrence within both democracies, electoral autocracies and hybrid regimes. Studies of migration and democracy have explored the potential influence of international migration on such vote-buying dynamics in their home countries through the remittance of both financial and social remittances (ideas and norms) or through return. Despite these efforts, current findings remain somewhat inconclusive, in addition to being often based on research designs that inadequately address the potential impact of social desirability biases associated with vote buying survey questions. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by concentrating on the specific case of Morocco, a prominent case of a hybrid regime with a significant history of emigration. In order to unpack attitudes to vote buying, we draw on original data from a recently completed face to face survey with a list experiment to mitigate biases in respondents' reported experiences with vote-buying. We explore the relationship between direct and indirect questioning methods and investigate the influence of migration background, encompassing both financial and social remittances, on vote-buying mechanisms (targeting and effectiveness) accounting for social desirability dynamics.