Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia
This article presents an experiment in which 49 Indonesian villages were randomly assigned to choose development projects through either representative-based meetings or direct election-based plebiscites. Plebiscites resulted in dramatically higher satisfaction among villagers, increased knowledge a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Cambridge University Press
2011
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67017 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1918-4631 |
| _version_ | 1826202585362595840 |
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| author | Olken, Benjamin A. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Olken, Benjamin A. |
| author_sort | Olken, Benjamin A. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This article presents an experiment in which 49 Indonesian villages were randomly assigned to choose development projects through either representative-based meetings or direct election-based plebiscites. Plebiscites resulted in dramatically higher satisfaction among villagers, increased knowledge about the project, greater perceived benefits, and higher reported willingness to contribute. Changing the political mechanism had much smaller effects on the actual projects selected, with some evidence that plebiscites resulted in projects chosen by women being located in poorer areas. The results suggest that direct participation in political decision making can substantially increase satisfaction and legitimacy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:09:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/67017 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:09:58Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/670172022-10-01T08:35:20Z Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia Olken, Benjamin A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Olken, Benjamin A. Olken, Benjamin A. This article presents an experiment in which 49 Indonesian villages were randomly assigned to choose development projects through either representative-based meetings or direct election-based plebiscites. Plebiscites resulted in dramatically higher satisfaction among villagers, increased knowledge about the project, greater perceived benefits, and higher reported willingness to contribute. Changing the political mechanism had much smaller effects on the actual projects selected, with some evidence that plebiscites resulted in projects chosen by women being located in poorer areas. The results suggest that direct participation in political decision making can substantially increase satisfaction and legitimacy. Indonesian Decentralization Support Facility (DSF) 2011-11-14T19:33:33Z 2011-11-14T19:33:33Z 2010-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0003-0554 1537-5943 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67017 BENJAMIN A. OLKEN (2010). Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia. American Political Science Review, 104 , pp 243-267 doi:10.1017/S0003055410000079 © 2010 American Political Science Association https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1918-4631 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003055410000079 American Political Science Review Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Cambridge University Press MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Olken, Benjamin A. Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia |
| title | Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia |
| title_full | Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia |
| title_fullStr | Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia |
| title_short | Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia |
| title_sort | direct democracy and local public goods evidence from a field experiment in indonesia |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67017 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1918-4631 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT olkenbenjamina directdemocracyandlocalpublicgoodsevidencefromafieldexperimentinindonesia |