American Economic Review· 2015Q1
The Value of Democracy: Evidence from Road Building in Kenya
- 648citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2015year
Short summary
Democracy significantly reduces ethnic favoritism in Kenya, with districts sharing the president's ethnicity receiving half the road expenditure and one-fifth the paved roads during autocratic periods.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Districts sharing the president's ethnicity received twice the road expenditure and five times the paved roads in Kenya (1963-2011).
- Ethnic favoritism in road building disappeared during periods of democracy.
- The study uses data on road building across Kenyan districts over a 48-year period.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
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)
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. American Economic Review, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Demography
DemographySocial Sciences