What Politicians Do Not Know Can Hurt You: The Effects of Information on Politicians’ Spending Decisions

Do well-informed politicians make more effective spending decisions? In experiments with 70% of all elected politicians in Malawi (), we tested the effects of information on public spending. Specifically, we randomly provided information about school needs, foreign aid, and voting patterns prior to officials making real decisions about the allocation of spending. We show that these information interventions reduced inequalities in spending: treatment group politicians were more likely to spend in schools neglected by donors and in schools with greater need. Some information treatment effects were strongest in remote and less populated communities. These results suggest that information gaps partially explain inequalities in spending allocation and imply social welfare benefits from improving politicians’ access to information about community needs.

Funding: This research was funded by AidData at the College of William and Mary and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Development Lab through cooperative agreement AID-OAA-A-12-00096, by The Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, and by the London School of Economics and Political Science. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of AidData, USAID, or the United States Government.