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The Price of Power: Costs of Political Corruption in Indian Electricity
Politicians may target public goods to benefit their constituents, at the expense of others. I study corruption in the context of Indian electricity and estimate the welfare consequences. Using new administrative billing data and close-election regression discontinuities, I show that billed electricity consumption is lower for constituencies of the winning party, while actual consumption, measured by nighttime lights, is higher. I document the covert way in which politicians subsidize constituents by manipulating bills. These actions have substantial welfare implications, with an efficiency loss of over $0.6 billion, leading to unreliable electricity supply and significant negative consequences for development.
Date:
12 October 2023, 12:30
Venue:
Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details:
Seminar Room A or https://zoom.us/j/94428672489?pwd=c3N3a1FTRUpQcDJaVld4Tll5ekRzUT09
Speaker:
Meera Mahadevan (University of California, Irvine)
Organising department:
Department of Economics
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Emma Heritage
