Do anti-poverty programs sway voters? Experimental evidence from Uganda

Christopher Blattman, Mathilde Emeriau and Nathan Fiala

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: High-impact policies may not lead to support for the political party that introduces them. In 2008, Uganda's government encouraged groups of youth to submit proposals to start enterprises. Of 535 eligible groups, a random 265 received grants of nearly $400 per person. Prior work showed that after four years, the Youth Opportunities Program raised employment by 17% and earnings by 38%. Here we show that recipients were no more likely to support the ruling party in elections. Rather, recipients slightly increased campaigning and voting for the opposition. Potential mechanisms include program misattribution, group socialization, and financial independence freeing voters from transactional voting.

JEL-codes: N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15 pages
Date: 2018-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-exp and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published in Review of Economics and Statistics, 1, December, 2018, 100(5), pp. 891 - 905. ISSN: 0034-6535

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:101663

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