Publications
Publications
- 2008
- HBS Working Paper Series
Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India
By: Lakshmi Iyer and Anandi Mani
Abstract
We develop a framework to empirically examine how politicians with electoral pressures control bureaucrats with career concerns as well as the consequences for bureaucrats' career investments. Unique micro-level data on Indian bureaucrats support our key predictions. Politicians use frequent reassignments (transfers) across posts of varying importance to control bureaucrats. High-skilled bureaucrats face less frequent political transfers and lower variability in the importance of their posts. We find evidence of two alternative paths to career success: officers of higher initial ability are more likely to invest in skill, but caste affinity to the politician's party base also helps secure important positions.
Keywords
Governance Controls; Political Elections; Management Skills; Managerial Roles; Personal Development and Career; Societal Protocols; India
Citation
Iyer, Lakshmi, and Anandi Mani. "Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-006, July 2008. (Revised April 2009, November 2009.)