Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia

37 Pages Posted: 30 Jun 2008 Last revised: 5 Aug 2022

See all articles by Benjamin A. Olken

Benjamin A. Olken

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Harvard University - Society of Fellows

Date Written: June 2008

Abstract

This paper presents an experiment where 48 Indonesian villages were randomly assigned to choose development projects through either representative-based meetings or direct election-based plebiscites. Plebiscites resulted in dramatically higher satisfaction among villagers, increased knowledge about the project, greater perceived benefits, and higher reported willingness to contribute. Changing the political mechanism had much smaller effects on the actual projects selected, with some evidence that plebiscites resulted in projects chosen by women being located in poorer areas. The results show that direct participation in political decision making can substantially increase satisfaction and legitimacy, even when it has little effect on actual decisions.

Suggested Citation

Olken, Benjamin A., Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia (June 2008). NBER Working Paper No. w14123, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1152666

Benjamin A. Olken (Contact Author)

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