How Capital Projects are Allocated in Papua New Guinean Villages : The Influence of Local Collective Action, Local-level Institutions, and Electoral Politics
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has implemented numerous institutional changes over the past fifteen years with the avowed aim of bringing government closer to the people, improving accountability and, by extension, local infrastructure development and serv...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Pre-2003 Economic or Sector Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2011/08/16420888/capital-projects-allocated-papua-new-guinean-villages-influence-local-collective-action-local-level-institutions-electoral-politics http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12825 |
| Summary: | Papua New Guinea (PNG) has implemented
numerous institutional changes over the past fifteen years
with the avowed aim of bringing government closer to the
people, improving accountability and, by extension, local
infrastructure development and service delivery. To date
however, there has been little empirical evidence to
establish whether these changes have impacted the provision
of local infrastructure. Similarly, there is little
empirical evidence revealing the main political economy
factors that influence the way that resources are actually
planned, spent, and impact communities at the sub-national
level. This report investigates the determinants of local
infrastructure projects at the ward level, the lowest level
of government in PNG, to assess the impact of these
institutional changes and to identify the importance of
other factors, in particular local collective action. It
does this through a survey covering more than 1000
households across 49 yards in nine PNG districts. It also
presents descriptive statistics on the basic characteristics
of the households that were surveyed, their knowledge of
local level institutions, their participation in groups, and
their voting behavior. The report explores especially the
determinants of variation within districts in terms of the
presence of new projects. Common wisdom in PNG suggests that
the home wards of Members of Parliament (MPs) should be
especially favored with projects. In six districts, the data
includes this ward; these six home wards are no different
from other wards in their district with respect to the
presence of new projects. The survey asked questions about
electoral behavior, the provision of cash and other gifts in
exchange for votes and electoral violence. The survey found
significant inter-district variation, with vote-buying
dramatically higher in the three Highlands districts, where
42 percent of respondents report receiving cash, compared to
9 percent in the other districts. Within districts,
vote-buying and the provision of local public works projects
are inversely related. Vote-buying is also far more common
in the three districts that exhibit the most electoral violence. |
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