TY - JOUR
T1 - The value of democracy
T2 - Evidence from road building in Kenya
AU - Burgess, Robin
AU - Jedwab, Remi
AU - Miguel, Edward
AU - Morjaria, Ameet
AU - Padró I Miquel, Gerard
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, American Economic Association. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - Ethnic favoritism is seen as antithetical to development. This paper provides credible quantification of the extent of ethnic favoritism using data on road building in Kenyan districts across the 1963-2011 period. Guided by a model, it then examines whether the transition in and out of democracy under the same president constrains or exacerbates ethnic favoritism. Across the post-independence period, we find strong evidence of ethnic favoritism: districts that share the ethnicity of the president receive twice as much expenditure on roads and have five times the length of paved roads built. This favoritism disappears during periods of democracy. (JEL D72, H54, J15, O15, O17, O22, R42).
AB - Ethnic favoritism is seen as antithetical to development. This paper provides credible quantification of the extent of ethnic favoritism using data on road building in Kenyan districts across the 1963-2011 period. Guided by a model, it then examines whether the transition in and out of democracy under the same president constrains or exacerbates ethnic favoritism. Across the post-independence period, we find strong evidence of ethnic favoritism: districts that share the ethnicity of the president receive twice as much expenditure on roads and have five times the length of paved roads built. This favoritism disappears during periods of democracy. (JEL D72, H54, J15, O15, O17, O22, R42).
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U2 - 10.1257/aer.20131031
DO - 10.1257/aer.20131031
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84937485334
VL - 105
SP - 1817
EP - 1851
JO - American Economic Review
JF - American Economic Review
SN - 0002-8282
IS - 6
ER -