Aligning with One’s Own: Private Voting and Public Outcomes in Elections in Rural India

32 Pages Posted: 24 Nov 2011

See all articles by Raghbendra Jha

Raghbendra Jha

Australian National University (ANU) - Australia South Asia Research Centre (ASARC); Crawford School of Public Policy

Hari K. Nagarajan

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

Kailash C. Pradhan

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

Date Written: November 22, 2011

Abstract

This paper has the objective of showing that identity based voting will lead to improvements in household welfare through increased access to welfare programs. 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. We also show that consumption growth is retarded if households do not engage in identity based voting. Using 3 stage least squares, we are 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.

Keywords: Identity Based Voting, Panchayats, Decentralization, Devolution

JEL Classification: D7, D72, D73

Suggested Citation

Jha, Raghbendra and Nagarajan, Hari K. and Pradhan, Kailash C., Aligning with One’s Own: Private Voting and Public Outcomes in Elections in Rural India (November 22, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1963420 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1963420

Raghbendra Jha (Contact Author)

Australian National University (ANU) - Australia South Asia Research Centre (ASARC) ( email )

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200
Australia
+61 2 6125 2683 (Phone)
+61 2 6125 0443 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://crawford.anu.edu.au/crawford_people/content/staff/acde/rjha.php

Crawford School of Public Policy

ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
J.G. Crawford Building, #132, Lennox Crossing
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200
Australia

Hari K. Nagarajan

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) ( email )

Parisila Bhawan
11 - Indraprastha Estate
New Delhi, 110002
India

Kailash C. Pradhan

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) ( email )

Parisila Bhawan
11 - Indraprastha Estate
New Delhi, 110002
India

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
54
Abstract Views
681
Rank
720,593
PlumX Metrics