Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80613 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7473
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. To control for politician identity to be correlated with constituency level voter preferences or characteristics that make religion salient, we use quasi-random variation in legislator identity generated by close elections between Muslim and non-Muslim candidates. We find that increasing the political representation of Muslims improves health and education outcomes in the district from which the legislator is elected. We find no evidence of religious favoritism: Muslim children do not benefit more from Muslim political representation than children from other religious groups.
Subjects: 
religion
politician identity
infant mortality
primary education
India
Muslim
JEL: 
I15
J13
H41
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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