Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:31:55.027Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Political Economy of Unfinished Development Projects: Corruption, Clientelism, or Collective Choice?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2017

MARTIN J. WILLIAMS
MARTIN J. WILLIAMS*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
*
Martin J. Williams is Associate Professor in Public Management, University of Oxford, Blavatnik School of Government, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Development projects like schools and latrines are popular with politicians and voters alike, yet many developing countries are littered with half-finished projects that were abandoned mid-construction. Using an original database of over 14,000 small development projects in Ghana, I estimate that one-third of projects that start are never completed, consuming nearly one-fifth of all local government investment. I develop a theory of project noncompletion as the outcome of a dynamically inconsistent collective choice process among political actors facing commitment problems in contexts of limited resources. I find evidence consistent with key predictions of this theory, but inconsistent with alternative explanations based on corruption or clientelism. I show that fiscal institutions can increase completion rates by mitigating the operational consequences of these collective choice failures. These findings have theoretical and methodological implications for distributive politics, the design of intergovernmental transfers and aid, and the development of state capacity.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 111 , Issue 4 , November 2017 , pp. 705 - 723
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This project has benefited from data and discussions with individuals from numerous institutions in Ghana, including the National Development Planning Commission, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Local Government Service Secretariat, Ministry of Finance, District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator, Ghana Audit Service, World Bank, Ministry of Education, and GETFund Secretariat. However, the findings and opinions herein should not be attributed to any of these institutions. I am grateful for comments from Nana Agyekum-Dwamena, Ben Ansell, Daniel Berger, Catherine Boone, Christian Breunig, Stefano Caria, Ali Cirone, Darin Christensen, Patrick Dunleavy, Douglas Gollin, Nahomi Ichino, Ryan Jablonski, Julien Labonne, Noah Nathan, Pia Raffler, Imran Rasul, Dan Rogger, Anisha Sharma, Joachim Wehner, Erik Wibbels, Stephane Wolton, three anonymous reviewers, and workshop participants at the LSE, Ghana CSTC, ODI, DFID, EPSA, APSA, PacDev, Princeton, Georgetown, IMF, ABCDE, MPSA, WGAPE, and the Ghana Ministry of Finance, and to Nahomi Ichino and Erik Wibbels for sharing data. This research was funded by International Growth Centre grant 1-VRG-VGHA-VXXXX-89105. Allan Kasapa, Joseph Napen, and Abdul-Kadir Mumuni provided excellent research assistance. Any remaining errors are my own.

References

REFERENCES

Abotsi, Pascal Kafu. 2013. “Contractors Blame Economic Hardship on Gov.” The Chronicle, 18 September, <http://thechronicle.com.gh/contractors-blame-economic-hardship-on-gov/>, accessed April 8, 2015.,+accessed+April+8,+2015.>Google Scholar
Acemoglu, Daron, Johnson, Simon, and Robinson, James A.. 2005. “Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth.” In Handbook of Economic Growth, eds. Aghion, Philippe and Steven N. Durlauf, Volume 1A, 385–472.Google Scholar
Altonji, Joseph, Elder, Todd G., and Taber, Christopher E.. 2005. “Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools.” Journal of Political Economy 113 (1): 151–84.Google Scholar
Bandiera, Oriana, Prat, Andrea, and Valletti, Tommaso. 2009. “Active and Passive Waste in Government Spending: Evidence from a Policy Experiment.” American Economic Review 99 (4): 1278–308.Google Scholar
Banerjee, Abhijit, Hanna, Rema, and Mullainathan, Sendhil. 2013. “Corruption”. In The Handbook of Organizational Economics, eds. Gibbons, Robert and Roberts, John (2012), Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1109–47.Google Scholar
Banful, Afua Branoah. 2011. “Do Formula-Based Intergovernmental Transfer Mechanisms Eliminate Politically Motivated Targeting? Evidence from Ghana.” Journal of Development Economics 96: 380–90.Google Scholar
Baron, David, and Ferejohn, John. 1989. “Bargaining in Legislatures.” American Political Science Review 83 (4): 1181–206.Google Scholar
Bertelli, Anthony, and Grose, Christian R.. 2009. “Secretaries of Pork? A New Theory of Distributive Public Policy.” Journal of Politics 71 (3): 926–45.Google Scholar
Besley, Timothy, and Persson, Torsten. 2011. Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Briggs, Ryan C. 2012. “Electrifying the Base? Aid and Incumbent Advantage in Ghana.” Journal of Modern African Studies 50 (4): 603–24.Google Scholar
Burgess, Robin, Jedwab, Remi, Miguel, Edward, Morjaria, Ameet, and Padró i Miquel, Gerard. 2015. “The Value of Democracy: Evidence from Road Building in Kenya.” American Economic Review 105 (6): 1817–51.Google Scholar
Citi FM. 2014. “MMDAs to be forced to complete projects – PAC.” <http://citifmonline.com/2014/11/01/mmdas-to-be-forced-to-complete-projects-pac/#sthash.KBZMV5fB.dpbs>, accessed March 27, 2015.,+accessed+March+27,+2015.>Google Scholar
Citi FM. 2016. “Assembly system outmoded; MMDCEs must be elected – Kyei Baffour.” <http://citifmonline.com/2016/09/28/assemblies-must-go-partisan-local-governance-expert/#sthash.au08NvZf.dpuf>, accessed January 10, 2017.,+accessed+January+10,+2017.>Google Scholar
Cox, Gary, and McCubbins, Mathew. 1986. “Electoral Politics as a Redistributive Game.” Journal of Politics 48 (2): 370–89.Google Scholar
Daily Graphic. 2015. “NDC to win one million votes in Ashanti.” <http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/ndc-to-win-one-million-votes-in-ashanti.html>, accessed January 23, 2017.,+accessed+January+23,+2017.>Google Scholar
Dixit, Avinash, and Londregan, John. 1996. “The Determinants of Success of Special Interests in Redistributive Politics.” Journal of Politics 58 (4): 1132–55.Google Scholar
Duflo, Esther. 2001. “Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment.” American Economic Review 91 (4): 795–813.Google Scholar
Finan, Frederico, and Mazzocco, Maurizio. 2016. “Electoral Incentives and the Allocation of Public Funds.” NBER Working Paper 21859, January.Google Scholar
Flyvbjerg, Bent, Holm, Mette K. Skamris, and Buhl, Soren L.. 2004. “What Causes Cost Overrun in Transport Infrastructure Projects?” Transport Reviews: A Transnational Transdisciplinary Journal 24 (1): 3–18.Google Scholar
Franck, Raphael, and Rainer, Ilia. 2012. “Does the Leader’s Ethnicity Matter? Ethnic Favoritism, Education, and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa.” American Political Science Review 106 (2): 294–325.Google Scholar
Gadenne, Lucie. 2015. “Tax Me, but Spend Wisely? Sources of Public Finance and Government Accountability.” Mimeo, June.Google Scholar
Gadenne, Lucie, and Singhal, Monica. 2014. “Decentralization in Developing Economies.” Annual Review of Economics 6: 581–604.Google Scholar
Ghana Audit Service. 2014. “Report of the Auditor-General on the Management and Utilisation of District Assemblies' Common Fund and Other Statutory Funds for the Year Ended 31 December 2013.” Accra, 21 July.Google Scholar
Ghana Audit Service. 2016a. “Consolidated Report of the Auditor-General on the 50 District Assemblies Audited under GSAM Project.” Accra, August.Google Scholar
Ghana Audit Service. 2016b. “Report on the Dissemination of Audit Findings on the Infrastructure Audits Carried Out by Ghana Audit Service under the GSAM Programme.” Accra, May.Google Scholar
Ghana News Agency. 2014. “Ghana @ 50 Project left to rot.” <http://www.ghananewsagency.org/print/75622>, accessed March 27, 2015.,+accessed+March+27,+2015.>Google Scholar
Ghana News Agency. 2015. “Political Party Interference Marks Upcoming Assemblies’ Elections – CODEO.” <http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Political-party-interference-marks-upcoming-assemblies-elections-CODEO-376599>, accessed September 14, 2015.,+accessed+September+14,+2015.>Google Scholar
Ghanaweb. 2016. “Angry youth burn MP’s car over failed campaign promises.” http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Angry-youth-burn-MP-s-car-over-failed-campaign-promises-446147, accessed June 9, 2016.Google Scholar
Golden, Miriam, and Min, Brian. 2013. “Distributive Politics around the World.” Annual Review of Political Science 16: 73–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonzalez, Felipe, and Miguel, Edward. 2015. “War and Local Collective Action in Sierra Leone: A Comment on the Use of Coefficient Stability Approaches.” Journal of Public Economics 128: 30–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gormley, Todd, and Matsa, David. 2014. “Common Errors: How to (and Not to) Control for Unobserved Heterogeneity.” Review of Financial Studies 27 (2): 617–61.Google Scholar
Harding, Robin. 2015. “Attribution and Accountability: Voting for Roads in Ghana.” World Politics 67 (4): 656–89.Google Scholar
Hodler, Roland, and Raschky, Paul. 2014. “Regional Favoritism.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 129 (2): 995–1033.Google Scholar
Ichino, Nahomi, and Nathan, Noah. 2013. “Crossing the Line: Local Ethnic Geography and Voting in Ghana.” American Political Science Review 107 (2): 344–61.Google Scholar
Keefer, Philip. 2007. “Clientelism, Credibility, and the Policy Choices of Young Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (4): 804–21.Google Scholar
Keefer, Philip, and Stuti Khemani, S. 2009. “When do Legislators Pass on Pork? The Role of Political Parties in Determining Legislator Effort.” American Political Science Review 103 (1): 99–112.Google Scholar
Kramon, Eric, and Posner, Daniel. 2013. “Who Benefits from Distributive Politics? How the Outcome One Studies Affects the Answer One Gets.” Perspectives on Politics 11 (2): 461–74.Google Scholar
Joy News. 2014. “President Mahama: I will continue all abandoned projects.” <http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2014/September-10th/president-mahama-i-will-continue-all-abandoned-projects.php>, accessed March 25, 2015.,+accessed+March+25,+2015.>Google Scholar
Larcinese, Valentino, Snyder, James, and Testa, Cecilia. 2012. “Testing Models of Distributive Politics using Exit Polls to Measure Voters’ Preferences and Partisanship.” British Journal of Political Science 43: 845–75.Google Scholar
Nathan, Noah L. 2016. “Low Turnout and Ethnic Capture: Local Elections in Ghana.” Mimeo, 16 March.Google Scholar
National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE). 2015. “Assessing the Effectiveness of District Assemblies in Ghana’s Democracy.”Google Scholar
Olken, Benjamin. 2007. “Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia.” Journal of Political Economy 115 (2): 200–49.Google Scholar
Oster, Emily. 2016. “Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence.” Journal of Business Economics and Statistics: 1–18.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pressman, Jeffrey L., and Wildavsky, Aaron. 1984. Implementation. Berkeley: University of California Press. 3rd edition.Google Scholar
Rasul, Imran, and Rogger, Daniel. 2017. “Management of Bureaucrats and Public Service Delivery: Evidence from the Nigerian Civil Service.” Economic Journal: 1–34.Google Scholar
Reinikka, Ritva, and Svensson, Jakob. 2004. “Local Capture: Evidence from a Central Government Transfer Program in Uganda.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 119 (2): 679–705.Google Scholar
Riker, William, and Brams, Steven. 1973. “The Paradox of Vote Trading.” American Political Science Review 67 (4): 1235–47.Google Scholar
Robinson, James A., and Torvik, Ragnar. 2005. “White Elephants.” Journal of Public Economics 89: 197–210.Google Scholar
Robinson, James A., and Verdier, Thierry. 2013. “The Political Economy of Clientelism.” Scandinavian Journal of Economics 115 (2): 260–91.Google Scholar
Samuels, David. 2002. “Pork Barreling Is Not Credit Claiming or Advertising: Campaign Finance and the Sources of the Personal Vote in Brazil.” Journal of Politics 64 (3): 845–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Today Newspaper. 2015. “Election of MMDCEs: Ahwoi got it wrong – Nduom.” 25 August. <http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Election-of-MMDCEs-Ahwoi-got-it-wrong-Nduom-377412>, accessed 25 August 2015.,+accessed+25+August+2015.>Google Scholar
TV3 Network. 2015. “Mahama calls for moderation in demands on gov’t.” <http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=353332>, accessed 4 July 2015.,+accessed+4+July+2015.>Google Scholar
Vanguard News. 2016. “19,000 projects abandoned in Nigeria, ex-BPP DG tells Senate.” <http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/19000-projects-abandoned-nigeria-ex-bpp-dg-tells-senate/>, accessed August 11, 2016.,+accessed+August+11,+2016.>Google Scholar
Weghorst, Keith R., and Lindberg, Staffan I.. 2013. “What Drives the Swing Voter in Africa?” American Journal of Political Science 57 (3): 717–34.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry, Shepsle, Kenneth, and Johnsen, Christopher. 1981. “The Political Economy of Benefits and Costs: A Neoclassical Approach to Distributive Politics.” Journal of Political Economy 89 (4): 642–64.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry, and Marshall, William. 1988. “The Industrial Organization of Congress; or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, Are Not Organized as Markets.” Journal of Political Economy 96 (1): 132–63.Google Scholar
Whitfield, Lindsay. 2009. “‘Change for a Better Ghana: Party Competition, Institutionalization and Alternation in Ghana’s 2008 Elections.” African Affairs 108: 621–41.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2011. “Curbing Fraud, Corruption, and Collusion in the Roads Sector.” Washington, DC: June.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Williams supplementary material

Williams supplementary material 1

Download Williams supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 925.4 KB
Supplementary material: Link

Williams Dataset

Dataset

http://dx.doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ZUMTTN
Link
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.