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Political Favoritism by Powerful Politicians: Evidence from Chief Ministers in India

Author

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  • Umair Khalil

    (School of Economics, University of Adelaide)

  • Mandar Oak

    (School of Economics, University of Adelaide)

  • Sundar Ponnusamy

    (School of Economics, University of Adelaide)

Abstract

We study whether in single-member-district legislative systems, powerful politicians engage in political favoritism towards their constituents. The focus is on the chief ministers of Indian state governments. Using night light intensity as a measure of economic activity, we find that a constituency represented by a sitting chief minister exhibits about 13 percentage increase in luminosity relative to all other constituencies. The effect comes predominantly from the cases where the chief minister’s constituency lies outside their birth region. Neighboring constituencies, particularly those with strategic political value, also benefit from this windfall, suggesting the mechanism at play is likely to be political expediency rather than in-group favoritism.

Suggested Citation

  • Umair Khalil & Mandar Oak & Sundar Ponnusamy, 2020. "Political Favoritism by Powerful Politicians: Evidence from Chief Ministers in India," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2020-09, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:adl:wpaper:2020-09
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    File URL: https://media.adelaide.edu.au/economics/papers/doc/wp2020-08.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Makkar, Karan, 2023. "Defector Politicians and Economic Growth: Evidence from India," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Cheng, Hui-Pei & Swee, Eik Leong, 2024. "Farewell President! Political favoritism, economic inequality, and political polarization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Mattos, Enlinson & Politi, Ricardo & Morata, Rodrigo, 2021. "Birthplace favoritism and the distribution of budget amendments in Brazil: Evidence from nondistrict elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Asatryan, Zareh & Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Birkholz, Carlo & Hufschmidt, Patrick, 2023. "Favoritism by the governing elite," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-053, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
      • Asatryan, Zareh & Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Birkholz, Carlo & Hufschmidt, Patrick, 2023. "Favoritism by the governing elite," Ruhr Economic Papers 1029, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Distributive Politics; Ethnic Favoritism; Rent-seeking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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