In India, it is common for politicians to face criminal charges. Why do voters vote for criminals?
A compelling explanation provided by political scientist Milan Vaishnav is that voters often care less about their representatives’ ability to achieve large-scale development or write good laws, and more about how effective they are in helping them access resources. limited public. Thus, a politician who is corrupt or accused of crime can be considered effective because he can bring benefits to his community.
…Colloquially, voters say: Haan, goonda hai, magar hamara goonda hai (Yes, he’s a gangster, but he’s our gangster.)
By Karthik Muralidharan great book on improving state capacity in a failed state.
Addendum: See also my post Development economics does not exist.
