IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejpol/v17y2025i1p181-215.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Policymaking, Trust, and the Demand for Public Services: Evidence from a Mass Sterilization Campaign

Author

Listed:
  • Gianmarco León-Ciliotta
  • Dijana Zejcirovic
  • Fernando Fernandez

Abstract

We study a large-scale family planning intervention in which more than 260,000 Peruvian women were sterilized. Many of these medical procedures are alleged to have been performed without patient consent. The subsequent disclosure of alleged illegal sterilizations caused reductions in the usage of contraceptive methods and prenatal and birth delivery services and, more generally, the demand for medical services in affected areas. As a result, child health worsened. The results persist for at least 17 years after the information disclosure and are driven by disappointed supporters of the implementing government. Learning about the government's malpractices undermined trust in institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianmarco León-Ciliotta & Dijana Zejcirovic & Fernando Fernandez, 2025. "Policymaking, Trust, and the Demand for Public Services: Evidence from a Mass Sterilization Campaign," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 181-215, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:17:y:2025:i:1:p:181-215
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230155
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20230155
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20230155.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20230155.slds
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20230155.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/pol.20230155?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Mcmillan & Pablo Zoido, 2004. "How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 69-92, Fall.
    2. Benjamin A. Olken, 2009. "Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 1-33, October.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Ali Cheema & Asim I. Khwaja & James A. Robinson, 2020. "Trust in State and Nonstate Actors: Evidence from Dispute Resolution in Pakistan," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(8), pages 3090-3147.
    4. Marc F. Bellemare & Casey J. Wichman, 2020. "Elasticities and the Inverse Hyperbolic Sine Transformation," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(1), pages 50-61, February.
    5. Horacio Larreguy & John Marshall & James M SnyderJr., 2020. "Publicising Malfeasance: When the Local Media Structure Facilitates Electoral Accountability in Mexico," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(631), pages 2291-2327.
    6. Marcella Alsan & Marianne Wanamaker, 2018. "Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(1), pages 407-455.
    7. Darin Christensen & Oeindrila Dube & Johannes Haushofer & Bilal Siddiqi & Maarten Voors, 2021. "Building Resilient Health Systems: Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone and The 2014 Ebola Outbreak," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 1145-1198.
    8. Byker, Tanya & Gutierrez, Italo A., 2016. "Treatment Effects Using Inverse Probability Weighting and Contaminated Treatment Data: An Application to the Evaluation of a Government Female Sterilization Campaign in Peru," Working Papers 1118-1, RAND Corporation.
    9. Claudio Ferraz & Frederico Finan, 2008. "Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil's Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 703-745.
    10. Ruben Durante & Paolo Pinotti & Andrea Tesei, 2019. "The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(7), pages 2497-2530, July.
    11. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2014. "US Food Aid and Civil Conflict," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1630-1666, June.
    12. Khemani,Stuti, 2019. "What Is State Capacity ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8734, The World Bank.
    13. Benjamin Crost & Joseph Felter & Patrick Johnston, 2014. "Aid under Fire: Development Projects and Civil Conflict," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1833-1856, June.
    14. Marianna Battaglia & Nina Pallarés, 2020. "Family Planning and Child Health Care: Effect of the Peruvian Programa de Salud Reproductiva y Planificación Familiar, 1996–2000," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(1), pages 33-64, March.
    15. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das, 2017. "In Aid We Trust: Hearts and Minds and the Pakistan Earthquake of 2005," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(3), pages 371-386, July.
    16. Tanya Byker & Italo A. Gutierrez, 2016. "Treatment Effects Using Inverse Probability Weighting and Contaminated Treatment Data An Application to the Evaluation of a Government Female Sterilization Campaign in Peru," Working Papers WR-1118-1, RAND Corporation.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michal Šoltés, 2023. "Consequences of inconvenient information: Evidence from sentencing disparities," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(360), pages 1307-1334, October.
    2. Aditi Singh & Sarah Vincent, 2024. "Male Sterilization and Persistence of Violence: Evidence from Emergency in India," AMSE Working Papers 2403, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.

    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. Dijana Zejcirovic & Fernando Fernandez & Gianmarco León-Ciliotta, 2022. "Policy-Making, Trust and the Demand for Public Services: Evidence from a Mass Sterilization Campaign," Working Papers 1352, Barcelona School of Economics.
    2. Bühler, Mathias & Dickens, Andrew, 2024. "From Couch to Poll: Media Content and the Value of Local Information," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302352, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. David Kreitmeir & Nathan Lane & Paul A. Raschky, 2020. "The Value of Names - Civil Society, Information, and Governing Multinationals on the Global Periphery," SoDa Laboratories Working Paper Series 2020-10, Monash University, SoDa Laboratories.
    4. Donati, Dante, 2023. "Mobile Internet access and political outcomes: Evidence from South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    5. Ruben Enikolopov & Maria Petrova & Konstantin Sonin, 2018. "Social Media and Corruption," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 150-174, January.
    6. Elisa Mougin, 2021. "Three essays in the political economy of information [Trois essais en économie politique de l’information]," SciencePo Working papers tel-03537938, HAL.
    7. Monica Martinez-Bravo & Andreas Stegmann, 2022. "In Vaccines We Trust? The Effects of the CIA’s Vaccine Ruse on Immunization in Pakistan," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 150-186.
    8. Alex Armand & Paul Atwell & Joseph F. Gomes & Yannik Schenk, 2023. "It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, it’s Superman! Using Mass Media to fight Intolerance," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2023012, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    9. Koppenberg, Maximilian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Hirsch, Stefan, 2023. "Food aid and violent conflict: A review and Empiricist’s companion," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    10. Miriam Venturini, 2023. "The Imperfect Union: Labor Racketeering, Corruption Exposure, and Its Consequences," Working Papers 202407, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    11. Trombetta, Federico & Rossignoli, Domenico, 2021. "The price of silence: Media competition, capture, and electoral accountability," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. Elisa Mougin, 2021. "Three essays in the political economy of information [Trois essais en économie politique de l’information]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03537938, HAL.
    13. Hu, Zhi-An & Li, Jinghong & Nie, Zhuo, 2023. "Long Live friendship? The long-term impact of Soviet aid on Sino-Russian trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    14. Francesco Sobbrio, 2014. "The political economy of news media: theory, evidence and open issues," Chapters, in: Francesco Forte & Ram Mudambi & Pietro Maria Navarra (ed.), A Handbook of Alternative Theories of Public Economics, chapter 13, pages 278-320, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Strömberg, David & Prat, Andrea, 2011. "The Political Economy of Mass Media," CEPR Discussion Papers 8246, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Germán Bet & Cecilia Peluffo, 2023. "Democracy, commodity price booms, and infant mortality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 153-193, January.
    17. Thiemo Fetzer, 2020. "Can Workfare Programs Moderate Conflict? Evidence from India," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(6), pages 3337-3375.
    18. Dreher, Axel & Fuchs, Andreas & Langlotz, Sarah, 2019. "The effects of foreign aid on refugee flows," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 127-147.
    19. Martin-Shields, Charles P. & Stojetz, Wolfgang, 2019. "Food security and conflict: Empirical challenges and future opportunities for research and policy making on food security and conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 150-164.
    20. Stefano Gagliarducci & Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato & Francesco Sobbrio & Guido Tabellini, 2020. "War of the Waves: Radio and Resistance during World War II," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 1-38, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:aea:aejpol:v:17:y:2025:i:1:p:181-215. 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    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.