000			01646pab a2200205 454500
008			180718b2010 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aBussell, Jennifer L.
245			_aWhy get technical? Corruption and the politics of public service reform in the Indian states
260			_c2010
300			_ap.1230-1257.
362			_aOct
520			_aThe emergence of new information and communication technoloies in the 1990s offered governments opportunities to deliver public services more effectively to their citizens. Yet national and subnational authorities have employed such technologies in highly uneven ways. Drawing on a new data set of technology policy adoption by Indian states, the author argues that political calculations drive variation in the timing and scope of technology policies. Politicians weigh the expected electoral benefits from providing new goods to citizens against the expected electoral costs of reduced access to corrupt funds because of increased transparency. The author shows that the level of bureaucratic corruption in a state is the best predictor of both when states implement policies promoting computer-enabled services and the number of services made available. This finding contrasts with arguments that posit economic or developmental conditions, or alternative electoral and institutional characteristics, as the major drivers of technology investment. - Reproduced.
650			_aCorruption - India
650			_aInformation technology - India
650			_aPublic utilities - India
650			_aPublic utilities
773			_aComparative Political Studies
908			_aN
909			_a89883
999			_c89883 _d89883