Why Do National Politicians Target Pork to Lower-Level Elites?

This article challenges earlier explanations that partisan pork-barrel spending primarily targets ordinary voters.

Instead, it argues national politicians strategically distribute benefits along partisan lines to secure support from lower-level government officials.

Using a quasi-experimental approach and data on thousands of public works projects sanctioned by Indian MPs,

the study finds MP's favor certain co-partisan state legislators' constituencies when allocating funds specifically under these conditions.

Key Question: How does pork allocation work in multilevel political systems?

This research reveals an important dimension:

national politicians target development projects to win over local political elites,

ot just ordinary citizens.

While previous literature focused on direct voter targeting, this study demonstrates the crucial role of lower-level cooperation.

What This Means:

The findings offer new insights into India's complex multilevel governance system and highlight how partisan dynamics influence resource distribution across different levels.