A new paper by Fernanda Brollo, Tommaso Nannicini, Roberto Perotti, Guido Tabellini test the theory that additional government revenues increase political corruption and decrease the quality of politicians. What do they find?

In accordance with the predictions of the theory, we find that larger transfers increase political corruption and reduce the quality of candidates for mayor.

So, that study was done in Brazil. In other news, President Obama unveils a $3.8 trillion budget.