Attitudes and behaviors in a fragile state. A list experiment in Mali

Olivia Bertelli (), Thomas Calvo (), Emmanuelle Lavallée, Marion Mercier and Sandrine Mesplé-Somps
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Olivia Bertelli: LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Thomas Calvo: LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Emmanuelle Lavallée: LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Marion Mercier: LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Sandrine Mesplé-Somps: LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Understanding individual behaviors and attitudes towards political regimes is key to explaining their persistence. However, scantily available micro-level indicators are likely to be biased, especially in non-democratic settings where people might refrain from answering sensitive questions truthfully. We study behaviors and attitudes in Mali, at a time of conflict and military rule, by running an experimental survey on a nationwide sample of individuals. We elicit the prevalence rates of two attitudes towards the military situation in Mali and three behaviors associated with the ongoing conflict (firearms possession, willingness to engage in violence and victimization). Results indicate that support for the military regime is overreported and trust in the foreign armed forces deployed in the country is underreported when elicited by means of direct questions as opposed to a list experiment. Behaviors are not significantly misreported on average, but they are misreported by certain population segments particularly vulnerable to violence. This impacts directly on the estimation of correlations between respondent characteristics and sensitive outcomes when measured by direct questions.

Date: 2025-12
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Published in World Development, 2025, 196, pp.107151. ⟨10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107151⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05418637

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107151

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