Protest Matters: The Effects of Protests on Economic Redistribution

Belinda Archibong (), Chinemelu Okafor, Evans S. Osabuohien and Tom Moerenhout

No 34787, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Can citizen-led protests lead to meaningful economic redistribution and nudge governments to increase redistributive fiscal transfers? We study the effects of protests on fiscal redistribution using evidence from Nigeria. We digitized twenty-six years of public finance data from 1988 to 2016 to examine the effects of protests on intergovernmental transfers. We find that protests increase transfers to protesting regions, but only in areas that are politically aligned with disbursing governments. Evidence from the large-scale 2012 Occupy Nigeria protests confirms these results. Protesters also face increased police violence, particularly in non-aligned regions. The results show that protests can influence fiscal redistribution.

JEL-codes: D7 H2 H7 N47 O10 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02
Note: DEV PE POL
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