American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Enfranchising Your Own? Experimental Evidence on Bureaucrat Diversity and Election Bias in India
American Economic Review
vol. 108,
no. 6, June 2018
(pp. 1288–1321)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This paper investigates the effects of polling station administrator diversity on elections in India, using a natural experiment: the random assignment of government officials to teams managing stations on election day, together with surveys conducted with voters and election officers. I demonstrate that changes in the religious and caste composition of officer teams impact voting at the polling station level, causing shifts in coalition vote shares large enough to influence election outcomes. Effects are strongest when officers have greater discretion over the voting process. I also provide evidence suggesting own-group favoritism by election personnel as one relevant mechanism.Citation
Neggers, Yusuf. 2018. "Enfranchising Your Own? Experimental Evidence on Bureaucrat Diversity and Election Bias in India." American Economic Review, 108 (6): 1288–1321. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20170404Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C93 Field Experiments
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D73 Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- Z12 Cultural Economics: Religion
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification