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Article
| Review of Economics and Statistics
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August, 2012
Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India
by
Lakshmi Iyer and Anandi Mani
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Abstract
We develop a framework to empirically examine how politicians with electoral pressures control bureaucrats with career concerns as well as the consequences for bureaucrats' career investments. Unique micro-level data on Indian bureaucrats support our key predictions. Politicians use frequent reassignments (transfers) across posts of varying importance to control bureaucrats. High-skilled bureaucrats face less frequent political transfers and lower variability in the importance of their posts. We find evidence of two alternative paths to career success: officers of higher initial ability are more likely to invest in skill, but caste affinity to the politician's party base also helps secure important positions.
Keywords: Framework;
Government and Politics;
Investment;
Competency and Skills;
Personal Development and Career;
Rank and Position;
Forecasting and Prediction;
India;