Abstract
I examine how election fraud affects the type of government corruption and red tape that inhibit economic growth, as measured by building permit approvals in the Philippines, which are often delayed due to requests for bribes. To identify effects, I exploit a switch to automated elections in 2010 that made committing fraud more difficult. Estimates from a research design comparing changes over time in previously high-fraud and low-fraud towns indicate that automated elections significantly reduced election fraud, and that this led to a sharp and sustained 15 percent increase in the number of building permits approved annually. Local budget outcomes and priorities do not appear to be affected.