Just Rewards? Local Politics and Public Resource Allocation in South India

What factors determine the nature of political opportunism in local government in South-India? To answer this question, we study two types of policy decision that have been delegated to local politicians {beneficiary selection for transfer programs and the allocation of within-village public goods. Our data on village councils in South-India show that, relative to other citizens, elected councillors are more likely to be selected as beneficiaries of a large transfer program. The chief councillor's village also obtains more public goods, relative to other villages.These findings can be interpreted using a simple model of the logic of political incentives in the context that we study.