Private Returns to Public Office

The wealth accumulation of Indian parliamentarians using public disclosures required of all candidates since 2003 are studied. Annual asset growth of winners is on average 3 to 6 percentage points higher than runners-up. By performing a within-constituency com- parison where both runner-up and winner run in consecutive elections, and by looking at the subsample of very close elections, a range of alternative explanations for differential earnings of politicians and a relevant control group are ruled out. The “winner's premium" comes from parliamentarians holding positions in the Council of Ministers, with asset re- turns 13 to 29 percentage points higher than non-winners. The benefit of winning is also concentrated among incumbents, because of low asset growth for incumbent non-winners. [BREAD Working paper]. URL:[http://ipl.econ.duke.edu/bread/papers/working/344.pdf].