Religion, politician identity and development outcomes: Evidence from India

This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. Using an instrumental variables approach derived from a regression discontinuity, we find that increasin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic behavior & organization 2014-08, Vol.104, p.4-17
Main Authors: Bhalotra, Sonia, Clots-Figueras, Irma, Cassan, Guilhem, Iyer, Lakshmi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic behaviour
Economic organization
India
Infant mortality
Legislators
Muslim
Muslims
Political representation
Politician identity
Politicians
Primary education
Regression analysis
Religion
Religion & politics
Religious groups
Social identity
Studies
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Summary:This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. Using an instrumental variables approach derived from a regression discontinuity, we find that increasing the political representation of Muslims improves health and education outcomes in the district from which the legislator is elected. We find no evidence of religious favoritism: Muslim children do not benefit more from Muslim political representation than children from other religious groups.
ISSN:0167-2681
1879-1751
DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2013.09.006