Iyer, Lakshmi and Mani, Anandi (2007) Traveling agents : political change and bureaucratic turnover in India. Working Paper. Coventry: Department of Economics, University of Warwick.

Preview

Text WRAP_Mani_bureaucrazy_nov2007.pdf Download (266Kb)

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Political principals face high-powered electoral pressures while bureaucrat-agents face longer
term, low-powered incentives. Given constitutional constraints, what "carrots and sticks" do
politicians employ to control bureaucrats and how do bureaucrats respond to such incentives?
We use a simple career concerns framework and a unique dataset from the Indian Administrative Service to address these issues. State level politicians (Chief Ministers) exert control over
bureaucrats when they assume office, through a novel mechanism of reassignment (transfers)
to new jobs. Transfers are less likely if district politicians belong to the same party as the Chief
Minister, i.e. he appears to treat local politicians and bureaucrats as substitutes. We use a
framework where bureaucrats differ in their willingness to invest in job expertise or political
loyalty. Consistent with this framework, we find in our data that more able bureaucrats and
those with greater job-specific experience are less likely to be reassigned when a new politician
assumes office. In accordance with politicians district reassignment patterns, we do not find robust evidence of any negative impact of such politically-induced transfers on development
and policy outcomes at the district level.

Item Type:	Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions J Political Science > JS Local government Municipal government
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Bureaucracy -- India, Civil service -- India, India -- Politics and government
Publisher:	Department of Economics, University of Warwick
Place of Publication:	Coventry
Official Date:	November 2007
Dates:	Date Event November 2007 ["eprint_fieldopt_dates_date_type_available" not defined]
Number of Pages:	39
Institution:	University of Warwick
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access (Creative Commons)
Related URLs:	Related item in WRAP

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Available Versions of this Item

• Traveling agents : political change and bureaucratic turnover in India. (deposited 11 Aug 2008 14:16) [Currently Displayed]
  • Travelling agents : political change and bureaucratic turnover in India. (deposited 16 Oct 2013 14:25)

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item