Technology and clientelist politics in India

Steven I. Wilkinson

No wp-2021-153, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: This paper argues that new computer, smartphone, and universal ID technologies are reducing the incentives for political clientelism in the delivery of social programmes in India, especially by allowing party leaders to bypass local brokers to credit-claim for better service delivery and allowing politicians to deliver programmatic service delivery much more efficiently than in the past, with fewer diversions.

Keywords: Clientelism; India; Technology; Benefit programmes; Service delivery; Technological change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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