PE/PI Workshop: Masaaki Higashijima (Tokyo/UW)

Masaaki Higashijima (Tokyo/UW) will present, "Elected Leaders and Informal Tax Contributions: Natural Experiment Evidence from Village Elections in Kazakhstan."

Abstract
Do elections for local leaders boost informal tax collection and public goods provision? Existing observational and lab experiments find inconclusive effects, with some studies showing that traditional, unelected leaders secure greater contributions. We combine a natural experiment-the random timing of the introduction of village elections in Kazakhstan-with a survey experiment to test whether elected leaders elicit greater citizen willingness to contribute to local projects than leaders appointed by higher authorities. We also expect stronger effects among men than women. Our analysis shows elected village chiefs attract greater contributions than appointed chiefs. Surprisingly, the effect is more pronounced for women, suggesting elections are particularly important for encouraging women's participation in local governance. These findings indicate that elections can increase contributions in settings where unelected chiefs lack traditional authority and are appointed by higher entities.