Authors
Brian Min
Publication date
2011
Journal
Ann Arbor
Volume
1001
Issue
1
Pages
48109-41045
Description
A growing empirical literature suggests that developing democracies are ineffective in delivering public services to their poor. In the presence of corruption, clientelism, and patronage, the outcomes of elections may matter little to the livelihoods of the poor. Contrary to these expectations, I link the electoral rise of a pro-poor, low-Caste party to improved electricity provision to villages in northern India. Drawing on a novel set of satellite imagery of the earth at night that avoids the biases and missing data problems affecting traditional measures, I construct annual indicators of electrification for all 98,000 villages in Uttar Pradesh. By observing temporal variations in nighttime light output at the village level over three election cycles from 1992 to 2003, I demonstrate that low-Caste party representation has increased village electrification rates.
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