Politicians, institutional incentives, and citizen welfare: evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment in India

Article Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Oxford Economic Papers

Abstract

We examine how politicians and non-politicians in rural India respond to behavioural incentives. Using a modified dictator game, we vary treatments (and incentives) across the nature of interactions, the visibility of actions, and an upfront promise. Under anonymity, politicians and non-politicians behave selfishly: both become significantly more generous when interactions are personalized. However, while non-politicians respond to greater visibility more strongly than politicians, an upfront promise induces more pronounced politician responses. Whereas promise-breaking appears to be more costly for politicians, visibility, via social image concerns, appears to matter more for non-politicians. This mix of similarity and heterogeneity in response suggests that evidence about the behaviour of real-world politicians is more important for effective policy design than acknowledged so far.

First Page

333

Last Page

352

DOI

10.1093/oep/gpae028

Publication Date

4-1-2025

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