What They Prefer: Politician Responsiveness to Citizen Preferences in Pakistan

• In Event: Experiments on Citizen-Elite Communication and Elite Responsiveness

Abstract

Do politicians possess accurate information about citizen preferences and can better information bring politicians' actions closer to citizen preferences? In collaboration with the two largest political parties in Pakistan, I use a sample of local elected representatives to test how accurate politicians’ beliefs are about citizen preferences and conduct interventions aimed at testing how responsive politicians are to citizen preferences. The intervention involves providing local politicians with accurate information on citizen preferences. Sub-treatment arms test for differential responsiveness by the gender and partisan identity of the citizens whose preferences are being provided to politicians. The primary outcome is politicians' policy recommendations to their party leadership. Other outcomes include the justifications politicians give for these recommendations, their demand for more information and their willingness to find candidates for a government scheme in their locality.

Author

• Asad Liaqat, Harvard University