Elections and Rural Road Construction: Evidence from India
Elections and Rural Road Construction: Evidence from India
political economy, working papers
712/2024 Ahana Basistha, Amrita Dhillon and Arka Roy Chaudhuri
This paper analyzes the existence of electoral cycles in infrastructure provision in the context of a large rural road building program in India. We use data covering 150,000 roads over a decade to demonstrate an increase in road building activity before state elections. These electoral cycles in rural road building do not translate into efficiency losses in terms of quality, cost or delay. However, we find evidence that politicians build roads with a lower stipulated construction time before elections. In line with our model’s predictions, we also find that electoral constituencies with a larger share of uninformed voters display larger electoral cycles.
Political Economy