Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India

Sonia Bhalotra, Guilhem Cassan, Irma Clots-Figueras and Lakshmi Iyer

No 19173, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: 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. To allow for politician identity to be correlated with constituency level voter preferences or characteristics that make religion salient, we use quasi-random variation in legislator identity generated by close elections between Muslim and non-Muslim candidates. 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.

JEL-codes: H41 I15 J13 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-dem, nep-dev and nep-pol
Note: CH DEV POL
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Bhalotra, Sonia & Clots-Figueras, Irma & Cassan, Guilhem & Iyer, Lakshmi, 2014. "Religion, politician identity and development outcomes: Evidence from India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 4-17.
Published as Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India , Sonia Bhalotra, Irma Clots-Figueras, Guilhem Cassan, Lakshmi Iyer. in Economics of Religion and Culture , Hungerman and Chen. 2014

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Related works:
Journal Article: Religion, politician identity and development outcomes: Evidence from India (2014)
Chapter: Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India (2013)
Working Paper: Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India (2013)
Working Paper: Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India (2013)
Working Paper: Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes:Evidence from India (2013)
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