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Parochial Politics: Ethnic Preferences and Politician Corruption

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Abstract

Increased voter ethnicization, defined as a greater preference for the party representing one's ethnic group, affects politician quality. If politics is characterized by incomplete policy commitment, then ethnicization reduces average winner quality for the pro-majority party with the opposite true for the minority party. The effect increases with greater numerical dominance of the majority (and so social homogeneity). [BREAD WP No. 152].

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  • Abhijit Banerjee, 2007. "Parochial Politics: Ethnic Preferences and Politician Corruption," Working Papers id:1079, eSocialSciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1079
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ethnic voting; corruption India; ethnic group; ethnicization; politician; North; parochial; minority; pro-majority; social homogeneity; party;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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