Leader Identity and Coordination

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bhalotra, Sonia; Clots-Figueras, Irma; Iyer, Lakshmi; Vecci, Joseph
• 署名单位: University of Warwick; University of Kent; University of Notre Dame; University of Gothenburg
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01040
• 发表日期: 2023-01
• 页码: 175-189
• 关键词: political representation; policy experiment; field experiment; social identity; public-goods; women; FAILURE; games; DISCRIMINATION; diversity

摘要

This paper examines policy effectiveness as a function of leader identity. We experimentally vary leader religious identity in a coordination game implemented in India and focus on citizen reactions to leader identity, controlling for leader actions. We find that minority leaders improve coordination, and majority leaders do not. Alternative treatment arms reveal that affirmative action for minorities reverses this result, while intergroup contact improves the effectiveness of leaders of both identities. We also find that minority leaders are less effective in towns with a history of intergroup conflict. Our results demonstrate that leader and policy effectiveness depend on citizen reactions, conditioned by social identity and past conflict.