Biryani, Bribery, and Ballot Boxes in Pakistan

Université de Lille

with Maqsood Aslam (Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan) Etienne Farvaque (U de Lille) Hira Iqbal (National University of Science and Technology, Pakistan)

We analyze the extent of vote-buying in Pakistan, comparing its prevalence and impact under the authoritarian and democratic regimes the country has known. We use household level consumption survey data from the Pakistan Social Living Measurement (PSLM), for the period 2004-2019, as well as data on local elections from the Election commission of Pakistan (ECP). We first document the presence of vote-buying at the macroeconomic level, and then, using a difference-in-difference on quasi-randomization by survey dates methodology, we compare the increase in consumption expenditures at the microeconomic level. We show that consumption increases during electoral periods, but rather before the election in autocracy versus after the election in the democratic regime.