{
"authors": [
"Milan Vaishnav",
"Rachel Osnos"
],
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"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
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"englishNewsletterAll": "",
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"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "SAP",
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"South Asia"
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"South Asia",
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}
Source: Getty
Burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service.
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.
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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