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Limited preferential voting (LPV) was introduced in the wake of the 2002 general elections in Papua New Guinea. Twenty years on and three general elections later, this presentation reports on new research examining LPV’s impact on electoral processes and outcomes, as well as governance more generally. Although the research found little evidence of large changes — either positive or negative — stemming from the shift in electoral systems, there is evidence of smaller benefits and costs, as well as tantalising hints of possible future potential.

Speakers
Dr Terence Wood
Research Fellow Development Policy Centre, ANU

Maholopa Laveil
Lecturer in Economics, School of Business and Public Policy, UPNG

Co-author
Michael Kabuni
PhD candidate, Department of Pacific Affairs, ANU

This presentation is based on a recent Development Policy Centre Discussion Paper No. 101, ‘What has limited preferential voting changed in Papua New Guinea?’

The ANU-UPNG seminar series is part of the partnership between the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and the UPNG School of Business and Public Policy, supported by the PNG-Aus Partnership.

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This paper studies whether undocumented immigrants change their crime-reporting behaviour after receiving a regular migratory status. It exploits a natural experiment of a massive amnesty program that gave a regular migratory status to over 281,000 undocumented Venezuelan immigrants in Colombia. The findings suggest that following the amnesty there is an increase in reporting of crimes by Venezuelan immigrants, not explained by an increase in crime overall. The results are particularly strong for reports of domestic violence and sex crimes. Results are almost entirely driven by reports by female Venezuelan immigrants, a vulnerable population, suggesting that empowerment is an important mechanism driving the behaviour change.

Read the full paper, Empowering Migrants : Impacts of a Migrant’s Amnesty on Crime Reports.

Speaker

Dr Dany Bahar is an Associate Professor of Practice of International and Public Affairs at Brown University’s Watson Institute. His research sits at the intersection of international economics and economic development. In particular, his academic research focuses on the diffusion of technology and knowledge within and across borders, as measured by productivity, structural transformation, exports, entrepreneurship and innovation, among other factors.