IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joerap/v1y2018i1d10.1007_s41996-018-0005-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identity, Patronage, and Redistribution: Economic Inequality in Bolivia under Evo Morales

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel L. Hicks

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Beatriz Maldonado

    (College of Charleston)

  • Brian Piper

    (Research and Planning Consultants)

  • Alejandra Goytia Rios

    (Universidad de Chile)

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which the election of Evo Morales and the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party is associated with a redistribution of economic resources in favor of indigenous populations in Bolivia. We employ household surveys over the period 2000–2013 and a difference framework to study changes in the income distribution. While the analysis period has been one of rapid economic expansion for Bolivia, we show that indigenous groups exhibit significantly higher than average income and expenditure growth in the post-election period, closing roughly one quarter of the income gap with non-indigenous households. These benefits appear to accrue for most indigenous populations, and we find no robust evidence of a preferential impact on any one specific indigenous group. We corroborate these findings with placebo tests and with estimates of economic activity from satellite measures of nighttime lighting paired with census maps of ethnic composition.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel L. Hicks & Beatriz Maldonado & Brian Piper & Alejandra Goytia Rios, 2018. "Identity, Patronage, and Redistribution: Economic Inequality in Bolivia under Evo Morales," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 26-41, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joerap:v:1:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s41996-018-0005-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s41996-018-0005-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41996-018-0005-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41996-018-0005-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Souleymane Soumahoro, 2015. "Leadership favouritism in Africa," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(15), pages 1236-1239, October.
    2. Angus Deaton, 2005. "Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in a Poor World)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Darryl McLeod & Nora Lustig, 2010. "Inequality and Poverty under Latin America's New Left Regimes," Fordham Economics Discussion Paper Series dp2010-13, Fordham University, Department of Economics.
    4. Kasara, Kimuli, 2007. "Tax Me If You Can: Ethnic Geography, Democracy, and the Taxation of Agriculture in Africa," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 101(1), pages 159-172, February.
    5. F. Bourguignon & M. Fournier & M. Gurgand, 2001. "Fast Development With a Stable Income Distribution: Taiwan, 1979–94," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(2), pages 139-163, June.
    6. World Bank, 2015. "World Development Indicators 2015," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21634, December.
    7. Bourguignon, Francois & Fournier, M & Gurgand, M, 2001. "Fast Development with a Stable Income Distribution: Taiwan, 1979-94," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(2), pages 139-163, June.
    8. Guilhem Cassan, 2015. "Identity-Based Policies and Identity Manipulation: Evidence from Colonial Punjab," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 103-131, November.
    9. Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2005. "Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 835-864.
    10. Franck, Raphaã‹L & Rainer, Ilia, 2012. "Does the Leader's Ethnicity Matter? Ethnic Favoritism, Education, and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(2), pages 294-325, May.
    11. Timothy Besley & Jose G. Montalvo & Marta Reynal‐Querol, 2011. "Do Educated Leaders Matter?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(554), pages 205-205, August.
    12. Marco, Flavia, 2012. "El Bono Juancito Pinto del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: programas de transferencias monetarias e infancia," Documentos de Proyectos 4005, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    13. Mr. Mauricio Vargas & Santiago Garriga, 2015. "Explaining Inequality and Poverty Reduction in Bolivia," IMF Working Papers 2015/265, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Angus Deaton, 2005. "ERRATUM: Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in a Poor World)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(2), pages 395-395, May.
    15. Roland Hodler & Paul A. Raschky, 2014. "Regional Favoritism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 995-1033.
    16. Andrew M. Francis & Maria Tannuri-Pianto, 2013. "Endogenous Race in Brazil: Affirmative Action and the Construction of Racial Identity among Young Adults," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 731-753.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. De Luca, Giacomo & Hodler, Roland & Raschky, Paul A. & Valsecchi, Michele, 2018. "Ethnic favoritism: An axiom of politics?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 115-129.
    2. Harry Pickard, 2018. "Does Congressional experience in US governors influence state transfers?," Working Papers 2018014, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    3. Kung, James Kai-sing & Zhou, Titi, 2021. "Political elites and hometown favoritism in famine-stricken China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 22-37.
    4. Harry Pickard, 2021. "The Impact of Career Politicians: Evidence from US Governors," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 103-125, February.
    5. Huang, Zhonghua & Du, Xuejun, 2022. "Hometown favoritism and land allocation: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    6. Robin Burgess & Remi Jedwab & Edward Miguel & Ameet Morjaria & Gerard Padró i Miquel, 2015. "The Value of Democracy: Evidence from Road Building in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(6), pages 1817-1851, June.
    7. Mercier, Marion, 2016. "The return of the prodigy son: Do return migrants make better leaders?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 76-91.
    8. Pierre André & Paul Maarek & Fatoumata Tapo, 2018. "Ethnic Favoritism: Winner Takes All or Power Sharing? Evidence from school constructions in Benin," THEMA Working Papers 2018-03, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    9. Widmer, Philine & Zurlinden, Noémie, 2022. "Ministers Engage in Favoritism Too," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    10. Fuchs, Andreas & Richert, Katharina, 2015. "Do Development Minister Characteristics Affect Aid Giving?," Working Papers 0604, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    11. Dorine Boumans & Klaus Gründler & Niklas Potrafke & Fabian Ruthardt, 2021. "The Global Economic Impact of Politicians: Evidence from an International Survey RCT," CESifo Working Paper Series 8833, CESifo.
    12. Makarin, Alexey & Piqué, Ricardo & Aragón, Fernando, 2020. "National or sub-national parties: Does party geographic scope matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    13. Pelle Ahlerup & Ann-Sofie Isaksson, 2015. "Ethno-Regional Favouritism in Sub-Saharan Africa," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 143-152, May.
    14. Datt,Gaurav & Ravallion,Martin & Murgai,Rinku, 2016. "Growth, urbanization, and poverty reduction in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7568, The World Bank.
    15. Fuchs, Andreas & Richert, Katharina, 2018. "Development Minister Characteristics and Aid Giving," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 53, pages 186-204.
    16. Leoné Walters & Manoel Bittencourt & Carolyn Chisadza, 2023. "Public infrastructure provision and ethnic favouritism: Evidence from South Africa," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 33-65, January.
    17. Ehizuelen Michael Mitchell Omoruyi, 2016. "The Dragon's Goodwill: Examining China's External Finance and African Leaders' Preferentialism," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-30, October.
    18. Jaqueson K Galimberti & Stefan Pichler & Regina Pleninger, 2023. "Measuring Inequality Using Geospatial Data," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(4), pages 549-569.
    19. Hicks, Daniel L. & Hicks, Joan Hamory & Maldonado, Beatriz, 2016. "Women as policy makers and donors: Female legislators and foreign aid," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 46-60.
    20. Ma, Guangrong & Qi, Qingyuan & Liu, Mengxin, 2023. "A lack of nostalgia: Hometown favoritism and allocation of intergovernmental transfer in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joerap:v:1:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s41996-018-0005-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.