Targeting the centre and (least) poor: Evidence from urban Lahore, Pakistan

Hadia Majid and Mahvish Shami
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Hadia Majid: Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
Mahvish Shami: London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Urban Studies, 2024, vol. 61, issue 13, 2644-2662

Abstract: Using the case of Pakistan, this article explores the distribution and politics of public goods provision in urban slums. Across slums, we find that public goods are mainly provided to households located in central slums rather than those in the urban periphery. Within slums, we find politicians target spending towards wealthy households but do not go through brokers, unlike the more-studied case of India. Overall, the article shows how electoral incentives in Pakistan are biased against programmatic public goods provision for the urban poor. Our results then point to variation in patronage politics among slums in the Global South.

Keywords: clientelism; Katchi Abadis; Lahore; Pakistan; political targeting; public goods; slums; 裙带主义; 棚屋区; æ‹‰å ˆå°”; å·´åŸºæ–¯å ¦; æ”¿æ²»ç›®æ ‡; 公共å“; 贫民窟 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:61:y:2024:i:13:p:2644-2662

DOI: 10.1177/00420980241245339

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