corruption amongst india’s politicians: insights from ... · i political corruption is said to be...
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Corruption Amongst India’s Politicians:Insights from Unusual Data
Rikhil R. Bhavnani
November 2010
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Questions
I How corrupt are India’s politicians?I What are (excess) gains to office in India?I What proportion of politicians have “excess” gains?
I Who is corrupt?
I What are the consequences?
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Motivation
I Corruption affects political and economic outcomesI it undermines trust in the political processI impacts economic growthI linked to organized crime and violence
I Political corruption is said to be the fount of all corruption
I Yet we have few measures of it
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Background
In India, corruption amongst politicians is thought to
I have worsened over time
I be more prevalent in the North
I be caused due to low salaries, government intervention, poorcampaign-finance laws, ethnic politics, anti-incumbency
Why study India?
I 85th-most corrupt country (of 180); intra-country variation
I great data
I lots of governance reforms
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Data
I Since 2003, candidates have had to declare theirI own, spouse, dependent assetsI liabilitiesI educationI ageI criminal charges, convictions
I Data for 2 consecutive elections, 2003/04 and 2008/09
I Recently coded 70,000+ data sheets in 8 languages to yieldrecords for 11 states. Results are preliminary
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An example
Mayawati’s assets– in 2004 ≈ $0.43m– in 2008 ≈ $13m(72 properties, 54 bank accounts,among India’s highest tax payers)
But she had a salary of$50,000/year
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Empirical strategy
I Gains to officeI E [∆AW |X = 0]− E [∆AL|X = 0]
I Prop. suspect politiciansI Pr(∆AW > t|X = 0)− Pr(∆AL > t|X = 0)
I Correlates, consequences of corruption
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Bias?
I probably underestimate the gains to office since
I politicians probably underreport their assets
I politicians might have spent their gains
I might have not monetized their gains
I will overestimate the gains to office and corruption though if
I “inefficient” politicians are denied tickets
I reporting improves over time
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The gains to office
Winning increases candidate assets by Rs. 6.6 million or 135%
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The gains to office
Winning increases candidate assets by Rs. 6.6 million or 135%
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Robustness tests
The results are unchanged
I using different winning margins/bandwidths
I using placebos (“winning” at different thresholds)
I controlling for selection (Heckman), covariates (OLS,matching)
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What proportion of politicians are suspect?
Rs. 0.4-2.7 million of the gain in assets could be legitimate
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What proportion of politicians are suspect?
Rs. 0.4-2.7 million of the gain in assets could be legitimate
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Is this really corruption?
We might expect suspect-politicians to
I shift wealth to family members
I shift wealth to jewelry
I shift wealth to (non-agricultural) land
I have a previous criminal record
I be more likely to be charged with crimes
I be less likely to have tax IDs
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Is this really corruption?
We might expect suspect-politicians to
I shift wealth to family members XI shift wealth to jewelry XI shift wealth to (non-agricultural) land XI have a previous criminal record XI be more likely to be charged with crimes XI be less likely to have tax IDs X
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Correlates of being suspect
Figure: ∆Pr(suspect-politician)
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Effects of suspect politicians?
Figure: ∆Pr(winning in 2008/09)
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Tentative conclusions, implications
I Preliminary estimatesI unexpectedly varied gains to officeI less-than-expected corruption
I perceived and actual corruption are differentI fewer people might oppose reform than expected
I CorrelatesI positive: governing coalition, cabinet members, from DelhiI negative: ST politicians, from Rajasthan and OrissaI no effect: initial wealth
I OutcomesI corruption improves the chances of winning the next election
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Thank you
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Remaining questions
I Differences between national and state-level patterns?
I Causal estimates of effects of attributes
I Which cabinet members do well?
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