Which principals matter? Accountability when local officials answer to both bureaucrats and politicians

Abstract

Government service provision often relies on local officials who implement policy while answering to overlapping administrative and political authorities. Yet we know little about which principals induce responsiveness in such settings. We study this question using a randomized evaluation of a local security reform in the Philippines. Village officials received an identical accountability letter that varied only in the identity of the principal issuing it: a national agency with formal administrative authority or the municipal mayor whose influence rests on informal patronage. Officials increased participation only in response to the national agency's letter. Citizens in villages where officials received the agency letter also reported higher perceptions of government fairness and effectiveness. These findings provide evidence on accountability among local implementers with one foot in politics and the other in bureaucracy, and motivate a discussion of when similar officials in other settings respond to accountability from one principal rather than another.