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  "authors": [
    "Milan Vaishnav",
    "Rachel Osnos"
  ],
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Source: Getty

In The Media

Digital India? An Email Experiment with Indian Legislators

Burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service.

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By Milan Vaishnav and Rachel Osnos
Published on Jul 8, 2019
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The South Asia Program informs policy debates relating to the region’s security, economy, and political development. From strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific to India’s internal dynamics and U.S. engagement with the region, the program offers in-depth, rigorous research and analysis on South Asia’s most critical challenges.

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Source: India Review

Of the many tasks elected representatives perform, constituency service is among the most difficult to observe and, therefore, to measure. However, a burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service. To date, this literature has overwhelmingly focused on the developed world. In this article, we describe the results of an email experiment in which we sent plausible, but fictitious constituency service requests to national legislators in India to evaluate their responsiveness, helpfulness, and possibly discriminatory behavior. While the overall response rate to our request is quite poor, those that do respond tend to offer “meaningful” responses. We find scant evidence of legislators discriminating on religious lines.

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This article was originally published by the India Review.

About the Authors

Milan Vaishnav

Director and Senior Fellow, South Asia Program

Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program and the host of the Grand Tamasha podcast at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary research focus is the political economy of India, and he examines issues such as corruption and governance, state capacity, federalism, and electoral behavior. He also conducts research on the Indian diaspora.

Rachel Osnos

Former Program Coordinator, South Asia Program

Authors

Milan Vaishnav
Director and Senior Fellow, South Asia Program
Milan Vaishnav
Rachel Osnos
Former Program Coordinator, South Asia Program
TechnologySouth AsiaIndia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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