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Political economy of infrastructure spending in India

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  • Khemani, Stuti

Abstract

This paper examines a puzzle in the political economy of infrastructure in India -- the co-existence of relatively low shares of capital spending in public budgets alongside evidence of large demand for village infrastructure from poor voters. It argues that this pattern is due to infrastructure projects being used at the margin for political rent-seeking, while spending on employment and welfare transfers are the preferred vehicles to win votes for re-election. New suggestive evidence on the variation of public spending composition across states, and within states over time is offered that is consistent with this argument. This evidence underscores a growing argument in the development literature that the level and composition of public spending per se may not be sufficient metrics to assess the quality of public goods policies -- greater infrastructure spending in some contexts may go to political rents rather than to the actual delivery of broad public goods for growth and poverty reduction.

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  • Khemani, Stuti, 2010. "Political economy of infrastructure spending in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5423, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5423
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    1. Stokes, Susan C., 2005. "Perverse Accountability: A Formal Model of Machine Politics with Evidence from Argentina," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 99(3), pages 315-325, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jain, Ritika & Nandan, Amit, 2019. "Effect of Electricity Act on tariff gap within the subsidizing sector: The case of India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 901-914.
    2. Monica Martinez-Bravo & Leonard Wantchekon, 2021. "Political Economy and Structural Transformation: Democracy, Regulation and Public Investment," Working Papers wp2021_2110, CEMFI.
    3. Sheahan, Megan & Liu, Yanyan & Barrett, Christopher B. & Narayanan, Sudha, 2014. "The political economy of MGNREGS spending in Andhra Pradesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1371, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Cavallo, Eduardo & Daude, Christian, 2011. "Public investment in developing countries: A blessing or a curse?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 65-81, March.
    5. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-37 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Kelly Krawczyk & Raymond Muhula, 2018. "Engaging decentralization in an uncertain political context: Lessons from Liberia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(3), pages 369-386, May.
    7. Mohanty, Biswajit & Bhanumurthy, N. R. & Dastidar, Ananya Ghosh, 2017. "What explains Regional Imbalances in Infrastructure?: Evidence from Indian States," Working Papers 17/197, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    8. Kieu-Trang Nguyen & Quoc-Anh Do & Anh Tran, 2011. "One Mandarin Benefits the Whole Clan: Hometown Infrastructure and Nepotism in an Autocracy," Working Papers 18-2011, Singapore Management University, School of Economics.
    9. Biswajit Mohanty & N.R. Bhanumurthy & Ananya Ghosh Dastidar, 2017. "What explains regional imbalances in public infrastructure expenditure? Evidence from Indian states," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 24(2), pages 113-139, December.
    10. Alizadeh, Tooran & Farid, Reza, 2017. "Political economy of telecommunication infrastructure: An investigation of the National Broadband Network early rollout and pork barrel politics in Australia," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 242-252.
    11. Jorge Martínez-Vázquez & Violeta Vulovic & Blanca Moreno Dodson, 2012. "The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Policies on Income Distribution: Evidence from a Large Panel of Countries," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 200(1), pages 95-130, March.
    12. Strand, Jon, 2012. "Low-level versus high-level equilibrium in public utility services," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 163-172.
    13. Fiszbein, Ariel & Matsuda, Yasuhiko, 2012. "Matching reforms to institutional realities : a framework for assessing social service delivery reform strategies in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6136, The World Bank.
    14. Verma, Priyam, 2024. "Optimal Infrastructure after Trade Reform in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    15. Sacchidananda Mukherjee & Shivani Badola, 2021. "Public Financing of Human Development in India: A Review," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 15(1), pages 62-81, April.

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    Keywords

    Public Sector Economics; National Governance; Public Sector Management and Reform; Parliamentary Government; Debt Markets;
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