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Anirban Mitra
Anirban Mitra is an Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Kent (Canterbury, UK). His research broadly involves development and political economy issues. His work has a South Asia focus and also includes the analysis of ethnic/religious conflict through the lens of economics. Prior to Kent, he has worked at the University of Oslo. He obtained his Ph.D in Economics from New York University in May 2012.
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Impact of fiscal decentralisation and ethnic heterogeneity on choice of local polity
In this article, based on Chapter 7 of 'Decentralised Governance’, Mitra and Pal utilise Indonesia’s fiscal decentralisation to local communities in 2001 to examine how FD may differentially affect the choice of local polity and generate local political entrepreneurship in ethnically homogenous and heterogenous communities. Utilising local income and local development as proxies for local political entrepreneurship, they document that ethnically diverse electoral democracies were more effective to initiate political entrepreneurship in Indonesia, which in turn facilitated the alignment of diverse population groups.
Ethnic identities, public spending, and political regimes
Do democracies discriminate less against minorities as compared to non-democracies? How does the dominance of an ethnic group affect discrimination under various political regimes? Presenting a theoretical model to address these questions, this article shows that political regime changes can favour or disfavour minorities – in terms of allocation of spending on public goods – depending on the size of the ethnic majority.
राजनेताओं का कष्ट, गरीब आदमी का लाभ: नजदीकी निर्वाचन क्षेत्रों में आय वितरण
स्टडीज में पब्लिक फंड्स के प्रवाह को दिशा देने में चुनावी प्रतिस्पर्धा की भूमिका को रेखांकित किया गया है। भारत के आंकड़ों का विश्लेषण करते हुए इस लेख में पाया गया है कि लगभग बराबरी की प्रतिस्पर्धा वाले निर्वाचन क्षेत्रों में आय संबंधी असमानता और ध्रुवीकरण कम होता है जिसका अर्थ हुआ कि चुनावी प्रतिस्पर्धा में गरीब लोगों को संपन्न लोगों की तुलना में अधिक लाभ होता है।
Consumption spikes and election delays
There is ample anecdotal evidence on political parties bribing voters with cash or consumption goods prior to elections, in India and other developing countries. However, there is an expected lack of hard evidence on the extent and form of vote-buying. Using data from Indian states, this column analyses consumption patterns of households around elections, and finds a spike for some items just before elections.
Politician's pain is poor man's gain: Income distribution in close-election constituencies
Studies have highlighted the role of electoral competition in directing the flow of public funds. Analysing data from India, this column finds lower income inequality and polarisation in tightly contested constituencies, implying that the poor gain more from electoral competition relative to the rich.
Using personalised information delivery to improve uptake of emergency government benefits
Although many governments introduced additional benefits as part of existing welfare schemes for Covid-19 relief, there is often a significant gap between the introduction of, and access to these benefits. Based on a field experiment in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, this article shows that simple, low-cost, information provision interventions can improve the accuracy of households' beliefs about the entitlements they are eligible for and increase the amounts they actually receive, improving beneficiaries’ food security and well-being.