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We explore the effect of political competition on the local provision of public goods in three countries: Brazil, Colombia and Mexico from 1991 to 2010 using municipal data. These countries share characteristics that make a comparative analysis useful in understanding the role of governance structures, which include the degree of fiscal and political decentralization. Based on a multidimensional approach of political competition and bringing to the fore the role of congressional elections, we establish the effect of several measures of political competition based on lower chamber elections on indicators of primary education, sanitation and infant mortality. We find that Brazil displays the highest elasticity with expected signs in several public goods to most measures of political competition, while Mexico shows strong connection of political competition indicators to all public goods but negative effects of voter turnout and electoral volatility; Colombia is the least responsive except for infant mortality. These differences are attributed to influences stemming from local accountability and party discipline. Resumen: En esta investigación exploramos el efecto de la competencia política sobre la provisión local de bienes públicos en tres países: Brasil, Colombia y México para el período 1991-2010 usando datos municipales. Estos tres países comparten características que hacen el análisis comparativo especialmente útil en la comprensión del papel jugado por las estructuras de gobierno, las cuales incluyen el grado de descentralización económica y política. Basado en un enfoque multidimensional de la competencia política y destacando el papel de las …