Research

Working papers


Abstract-  The fact that characteristics of politicians have an impact on economic outcomes is generally well established in literature. However, relatively less is known about the political economy of human capital-- in particular, of higher education in India. This paper establishes the links between politician quality and higher education provision by studying the causal impact of politician quality as measured by accusations of serious crimes on the opening of new publicly funded colleges in India. Using a regression discontinuity design with close elections between candidates accused of serious crimes and candidates not accused of serious crimes, I find that constituencies represented by state legislature members accused of serious crimes are less likely to witness openings of new state government funded colleges. Further, this effect is not compensated by openings of new private colleges. This negative impact is higher for constituencies with representatives aligned with the party governing at the state level, confirming the notion that access to power is essential for the ability to influence provision of higher education institutes.


Abstract- The role of political institutions in the distribution of economic resources and economic development is well acknowledged, but less is known about the determinants and importance of trust in political institutions. This paper studies the impact of change in representation on political trust. I use the delimitation exercise of 2008 as a source of change in representation of districts within state legislatures and respondents’ self-reported confidence in politicians and state government from two rounds of the IHDS (India Human Development Survey) as measures of political trust. Implementing a difference-in-differences strategy with a household panel, the estimates show that households living in districts that gained representatives in the state legislative assembly show an improvement in reported confidence in both politicians and the state government. There is no evidence of a symmetric negative effect for households living in districts that lose seats. Further, this improvement in confidence is accompanied by an improvement in availability of village level amenities and is associated with an increase in voter turnout as well as a decrease in age and corruption of electoral candidates in gaining districts.




Works in Progress