Experiments on Citizen-Elite Communication and Elite Responsiveness

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel focuses on relationships between citizens and political elites, developing the empirical study of elite responsiveness. Four experiments from Africa, Asia, and Latin America focus on the characterization of citizen-elite communication and elite responsiveness in and after such interactions. Collectively, these papers posit answers to three central questions in the study of accountability. First, which citizens articulate their preferences to political elite and under what circumstances do they choose to do so? Second, how do elites respond in these interactions with citizens and who do they choose to respond to? Third, what are the distributional consequences of this behavior by elites?

Our studies are united by a focus on day-to-day governance as opposed to a focus on elections. All four papers measure relationships between citizens and elites experimentally. The studies are all conducted through novel collaborations with political entities, including politicians, parties, and government agencies. The papers in this panel study differ in their emphasis on two types of political elites: elected politicians and bureaucrats. Further, while the papers are all experimental, they employ a diverse set of experimental designs.

Grossman, Humphreys, and Sacramone-Lutz leverage three types of experiments to understand when Ugandan citizens engage with elected politicians through new information and communication technology platforms. They investigate the mechanisms that inhibit uptake of ICTs to increase articulation of preferences to politicians.

Liaqat examines politician responsiveness to citizen preferences in the formulation of policy platforms in Pakistan in an experiment conducted with Pakistan’s two largest parties. He examines the congruence of local politicians’ beliefs about citizen preferences with original data on citizen preferences before examining how the provision of information on these preferences change the policy recommendations that politicians make to their parties. 

Golden, Gulzar, and Sonnet study communication between voters and politicians between elections in Pakistan. They randomize whether citizens are contacted to express their opinions to their elected politician and the follow-up that they receive from the politician. This intervention, conducted in collaboration with a politician, allows them to study how this interaction with a political elite shapes their views of incumbent performance, governance, and vote intentions.

Slough studies the responsiveness of bureaucrats to citizen requests for service at national scale in Colombia. She estimates the distributional consequences of variation in service provision by bureaucrats, asking whether actions taken in the provision of services underlie heterogeneity in “who gets what.” 

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 51: Experimental Research

Individual Presentations

• Information Technology and Political Engagement - Guy Grossman, University of Pennsylvania; Macartan Humphreys, Columbia University; Gabriella Sacramone-Lutz

• What They Prefer: Politician Responsiveness to Citizen Preferences in Pakistan - Asad Liaqat, Harvard University

• Improving Political Communication: A Field Experiment in Pakistan - Saad Gulzar, Stanford University; Miriam A. Golden, European University Institute; Luke Richard Sonnet, University of California, Los Angeles

• The Distributional Consequences of Bureaucratic Discretion - Tara L Slough, Columbia University; Gabriella Sacramone-Lutz

Chair

• Edmund J. Malesky Duke University

Discussant

• Lily L. Tsai Massachusetts Institute of Technology