Does relative deprivation condition the effects of social protection programs on political support? Experimental evidence from Pakistan

Katrina Kosec and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo

No 1842 v2, IFPRI discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: Could perceived relative economic standing affect citizens’ support for political leaders and insti tutions? We explore this question by examining Pakistan’s national unconditional cash transfer program, the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). Leveraging a regression discontinuity approach using BISP’s administrative data and an original survey experiment, we find that perceptions of relative deprivation color citizen reactions to social protection. When citizens do not feel relatively deprived, receiving cash transfers has little sustained effect on individuals’ reported level of support for their political system and its leaders. However, when citizens feel relatively worse off, those receiving cash transfers become more politically satisfied, while those denied transfers become more politically disgruntled. Moreover, the magnitude of the reduction in political support among non-beneficiaries is larger than the magnitude of the increase in po litical support among beneficiaries. This has important implications for our understanding of the political ramifications of rising perceived inequality.

Keywords: gender; political aspects; households; social protection; capacity development; inequality; economics; econometrics; cash transfers; social safety nets; Tanzania; Eastern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-exp
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1842v2

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