TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Anukriti, S
AU  - Chakravarty, Abhishek
        TI  - Political Aspirations in India: Evidence from Fertility Limits on Local Leaders
        PY  - 2015/Apr/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 9023
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp9023
        AB  - Despite theoretical advances, measurement issues have impeded empirical research on aspirations. We quantify political aspirations in a developing country by estimating individuals' willingness to trade-off family size for political candidacy. Utilizing quasi-experimental variation in legal fertility limits on village council members in India, we find that at least 2.21% of married couples of childbearing age altered their fertility to remain eligible for council membership. This implies that returns to local leadership in low-income democracies are potentially high. Poorer, less educated, and lower-caste families display strong political aspirations, thereby lowering the extent of elite-capture at the local level of governance.
        KW  - fertility limits
KW  - political aspirations
KW  - Panchayat elections
KW  - India
KW  - sex ratios
        ER  -