Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India

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

The Centre for Market and Public Organisation from The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK

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 politician identity to be correlated with constituency level voter preferences or events that make religion salient, we use quasi-random variation in legislator identity generated by close elections between Muslim and non-Muslim candidates. We find no evidence of religious favoritism: Muslim children do not benefit more from Muslim political representation than children from other religious groups. However increasing the political representation of Muslims improves health and education outcomes in the district from which the legislator is elected.

Keywords: religion; politician identity; infant mortality; primary education; India; Muslim (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 I15 J13 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2013-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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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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