Title: Decentralization and accountability
Description: Voters in India are more vigilant in monitoring government at the local than at the national level. In state assembly elections voters reward incumbents for local income growth, and punish them for a rise in inequality, over their entire term in office. But in national elections voters behave myopically, rewarding growth in national income and a fall in inflation and inequality only in the year preceding the election.
Subjects: Elections, Local elections, Politics and government, State governments, Voting research
Places: India