Arbeitspapier
Politics Before Pupils? Electoral Cycles and School Resources in India
Primary education in India is a development question of a unique magnitude, and the delivery of education by Indian states is often suspected to be marred by political haggling and corruption. Using rich administrative school-level panel data across Indian states, we test for electoral cycles in the provision of school resources. The effects are identified using staggered timing of state elections. We find that rulers allocate more primary school resources in the years preceding and following elections, but there is only weak evidence that resources are targeted to marginal constituencies. The resources affected are visible ones, namely free school uniforms, classrooms, toilets, ramps for the disabled and medical inspections. We also show that around election years, teachers spend more time on "non-teaching" activities. The political cycles are not inevitable, as they are present only in districts characterised by low voter turnout and low female literacy. Finally, we show that electoral cycles affect human capital accumulation: The phase of the electoral cycle in which pupils begin their primary schooling, affects their learning outcomes.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 8366
- Classification
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Wirtschaft
State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
Education and Economic Development
Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
Capitalist Systems: Political Economy
- Subject
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institutions
school resources
political cycle
public goods
voter turnout
India
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Fagernäs, Sonja
Pelkonen, Panu
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
- (where)
-
Bonn
- (when)
-
2014
- Handle
- Last update
-
10.03.0034, 11:44 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Fagernäs, Sonja
- Pelkonen, Panu
- Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Time of origin
- 2014
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