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Moral reputation and political selection in a decentralized democracy: Theory and evidence from India

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  • Prasenjit Banerjee
  • Vegard Iversen
  • Sandip Mitra
  • Antonio Nicolò
  • Kunal Sen

Abstract

What motivates individuals to become politicians? This is an important question in decentralized democracies, where local politicians play a key role in public goods provision. However, and in emerging economies, bureaucratic hurdles and administrative failures introduce uncertainty about the returns to a politician's effort towards public goods provision. This paper presents a theoretical enquiry of political selection in the presence of such uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Prasenjit Banerjee & Vegard Iversen & Sandip Mitra & Antonio Nicolò & Kunal Sen, 2020. "Moral reputation and political selection in a decentralized democracy: Theory and evidence from India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-26, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-26
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    2. Ananish Chaudhuri & Vegard Iversen & Francesca R. Jensenius & Pushkar Maitra, 2020. "Selecting the Best of Us? Politician Quality in Village Councils in West Bengal, India," CESifo Working Paper Series 8597, CESifo.

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    Keywords

    Politician; Experiments; Reputation; India;
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