Public Sector Employment as a Pathway to Local Electoral Politics

• In Event: Rural Politics in South Asia

Abstract

Political selection is critical for how well democracies function. An important strand in the literature on political selection focuses on occupations and professions that lead to political entry. In this article, I study a highly coveted occupation in developing countries – public sector employment – to investigate if it can be a pathway to electoral politics. I develop a theory of political entry at the household level and test how acquiring a public sector job influences supply-side (entry barriers) and demand-side (voter preferences) factors affecting political entry in the context of local elected government in rural India. Using the India Human Development Survey (a nationally representative panel dataset of over 40,000 households) and employing a difference-in-differences framework, I find that acquiring public sector employment by a member of the household is associated with higher political entry at the household level. I offer evidence to suggest that documented supply-side constraints to political entry – like household income and political and social networks – are more easily overcome by such households. Next, I will investigate demand-side consequences via conjoint experiments I intend to carry out in early 2024 in the state of Bihar in India. These will measure citizen preferences across candidates from households with different occupational profiles. The conjoints will also pin down mechanisms such as knowledge, skills, political networks, social connections and prestige that could influence voter preferences for candidates from households with a member with a government job.

Author

• Apurva Bamezai, University of Pennsylvania