Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India

Abstract

Politicians face high-powered electoral pressures while bureaucrats face longer-term, low powered incentives. Given constitutional constraints, what incentives do politicians employ to control bureaucrats and how do bureaucrats respond to such incentives? These issues are addressed using a sample model where politicians use posts of varying importance to motivate bureaucrats, who respond by investing in skill or political loyalty to get important posts. Using data from the Indian Administrative Service, evidence for several key implications upon entering office are analysed. [WP no. 178].India, politicians, political, Indian, policy implementation, outcomes, electoral, bureaucrats, incentives, travelling, constitutional constraints, bureaucracy, data,