Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia / Benjamin A. Olken.

By:

Olken, Benjamin A

Contributor(s):

National Bureau of Economic Research

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w14123.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

D72 - Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

Online resources:

Available additional physical forms:

Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers

Abstract: This paper presents an experiment where 48 Indonesian villages were randomly assigned to choose development projects through either representative-based meetings or direct election-based plebiscites. Plebiscites resulted in dramatically higher satisfaction among villagers, increased knowledge about the project, greater perceived benefits, and higher reported willingness to contribute. Changing the political mechanism had much smaller effects on the actual projects selected, with some evidence that plebiscites resulted in projects chosen by women being located in poorer areas. The results show that direct participation in political decision making can substantially increase satisfaction and legitimacy, even when it has little effect on actual decisions.

Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w14123 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

Total holds: 0

Collection: Colección NBER Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)

Previous	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	Next
Previous	nber w14120 Intensified Regulatory Scrutiny and Bank Distress in New York City During the Great Depression /	nber w14121 Measuring the Location of Production in a World of Intangible Productive Assets, FDI, and Intrafirm Trade /	nber w14122 Wages, Unemployment and Inequality with Heterogeneous Firms and Workers /	nber w14123 Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia /	nber w14124 The Lengthening of Childhood /	nber w14125 State and Federal Approaches to Health Reform: What Works for the Working Poor? /	nber w14126 Exchange Rate Regimes and the Extensive Margin of Trade /	Next

June 2008.

This paper presents an experiment where 48 Indonesian villages were randomly assigned to choose development projects through either representative-based meetings or direct election-based plebiscites. Plebiscites resulted in dramatically higher satisfaction among villagers, increased knowledge about the project, greater perceived benefits, and higher reported willingness to contribute. Changing the political mechanism had much smaller effects on the actual projects selected, with some evidence that plebiscites resulted in projects chosen by women being located in poorer areas. The results show that direct participation in political decision making can substantially increase satisfaction and legitimacy, even when it has little effect on actual decisions.