Aligning with one’s own : private voting and public outcomes in rural elections; some evidence from India
Date
2012-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi, IN
Abstract
Identity based voting is a second best solution adopted by households to minimize the negative
effects of one’s own identity and (or) identity based coalitions. If a significant source of
household welfare is one’s identity or, membership in ethnically defined groups, then politics
that results will be parochial in nature. In parochial politics voting along ethnic lines becomes a
significant tool for gaining welfare or to discipline the elected representatives. Using newly
available data from rural India, we establish that identity based voting will lead to enhanced
participation in welfare programs and increased consumption growth. The paper is able to able to
show that identity based voting results from the externalities derived from membership in social
and information networks, and such voting by enhancing participation in welfare programs leads
to significant increases in household consumption growth.
Description
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Working Paper
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Keywords
IDENTITY BASED VOTING, PANCHAYATS, DECENTRALIZATION, DEVOLUTION, ELECTIONS, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, ETHNIC GROUPS, GOVERNANCE, INDIA