IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/8333.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cash transfers increase trust in local government

Author

Listed:
  • Evans,David
  • Holtemeyer,Brian
  • Kosec,Katrina L.

Abstract

How does a locally-managed conditional cash transfer program impact trust in government? On the one hand, delivering monetary benefits and increasing interactions with government officials (elected and appointed) may increase trust. On the other hand, it can be difficult for citizens to know to whom to attribute a program and reward with greater trust. Further, imposing paternalistic conditions, and possibly prompting citizens to experience feelings of social stigma or guilt could reduce trust. This study answers this question by exploiting the randomized introduction of a locally-managed transfer program in Tanzania in 2010, which included popular election of community management committees to run the program. The analysis reveals that cash transfers can significantly increase trust in leaders. This effect is driven by large increases in trust in elected leaders as opposed to appointed bureaucrats. Perceptions of government responsiveness to citizens'concerns and honesty of leaders also rise, and these improvements are largest where there are more village meetings at baseline. One of the central roles of village meetings is to receive and share information with village residents, providing some evidence on the value of a high-information environment for generating trust in government. The study also finds that records from school and health committees are more readily available in treatment villages. Notably, while stated willingness of citizens to participate in community development projects rises, actual participation in projects and the likelihood of voting do not. Overall, the results suggest little reason to worry that local management of a conditional cash transfer program reduces trust in government or the quality of governance?especially in high-information contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Evans,David & Holtemeyer,Brian & Kosec,Katrina L., 2018. "Cash transfers increase trust in local government," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8333, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8333
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/655591518448688065/pdf/WPS8333.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoav Benjamini & Abba M. Krieger & Daniel Yekutieli, 2006. "Adaptive linear step-up procedures that control the false discovery rate," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 93(3), pages 491-507, September.
    2. Anderson, Michael L, 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt15n8j26f, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    3. Ian MacAuslan & Nils Riemenschneider, 2011. "Richer but Resented: What do Cash Transfers do to Social Relations?," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(6), pages 60-66, November.
    4. Dahlberg, Matz & Johansson, Eva, 2002. "On the Vote-Purchasing Behavior of Incumbent Governments," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 96(1), pages 27-40, March.
    5. Jowei Chen, 2013. "Voter Partisanship and the Effect of Distributive Spending on Political Participation," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(1), pages 200-217, January.
    6. Suzanne Mettler & Jeffrey M. Stonecash, 2008. "Government Program Usage and Political Voice," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(2), pages 273-293, June.
    7. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.
    8. Varsha Venugopal & Serdar Yilmaz, 2010. "Decentralization in Tanzania: An assessment of local government discretion and accountability," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(3), pages 215-231, August.
    9. Attanasio, Orazio & Polania-Reyes, Sandra & Pellerano, Luca, 2015. "Building social capital: Conditional cash transfers and cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 22-39.
    10. Camacho, Luis A., 2014. "The effects of conditional cash transfers on social engagement and trust in institutions: evidence from Peru's Juntos Programme," IDOS Discussion Papers 24/2014, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    11. Anderson, Michael L., 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1481-1495.
    12. Lucie Gadenne & Monica Singhal, 2014. "Decentralization in Developing Economies," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 581-604, August.
    13. Orazio Attanasio & Luca Pellerano & Sandra Polanía Reyes, 2009. "Building Trust? Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes and Social Capital," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 30(2), pages 139-177, June.
    14. Esther Duflo & Petia Topalova, 2004. "Unappreciated service: Performance, perceptions, and women leaders in india," Framed Field Experiments 00233, The Field Experiments Website.
    15. Marito Garcia & Charity M. T. Moore, 2012. "The Cash Dividend : The Rise of Cash Transfer Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2246.
    16. Raghabendra Chattopadhyay & Esther Duflo, 2004. "Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(5), pages 1409-1443, September.
    17. Johannes Haushofer & Jeremy Shapiro, 2016. "The Short-term Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers to the Poor: ExperimentalEvidence from Kenya," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1973-2042.
    18. Christoph Bader & Sabin Bieri & Urs Wiesmann & Andreas Heinimann, 2017. "Is Economic Growth Increasing Disparities? A Multidimensional Analysis of Poverty in the Lao PDR between 2003 and 2013," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(12), pages 2067-2085, December.
    19. Sahn, David E. & Stifel, David C., 2000. "Poverty Comparisons Over Time and Across Countries in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2123-2155, December.
    20. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    21. David K. Evans & Stephanie Hausladen & Katrina Kosec & Natasha Reese, 2014. "Community-Based Conditional Cash Transfers in Tanzania : Results from a Randomized Trial," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 17220.
    22. Alberto Chong & Hugo Nopo & Vanessa Rios, 2009. "Do Welfare Programs Damage Interpersonal Trust? Experimental Evidence from Representative Samples for Four Latin American Cities," Research Department Publications 4609, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    23. Ariel Fiszbein & Norbert Schady & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Margaret Grosh & Niall Keleher & Pedro Olinto & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2009. "Conditional Cash Transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2597.
    24. Brollo, Fernanda & Nannicini, Tommaso, 2012. "Tying Your Enemy's Hands in Close Races: The Politics of Federal Transfers in Brazil," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(4), pages 742-761, November.
    25. Cesar Zucco, 2013. "When Payouts Pay Off: Conditional Cash Transfers and Voting Behavior in Brazil 2002–10," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(4), pages 810-822, October.
    26. David K Evans & Brian Holtemeyer & Katrina Kosec, 2019. "Cash Transfers and Health: Evidence from Tanzania," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 394-412.
    27. Frank Ellis, 2012. "‘We Are All Poor Here’: Economic Difference, Social Divisiveness and Targeting Cash Transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(2), pages 201-214, February.
    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. Salauddin Tauseef, 2022. "The Importance of Nutrition Education in Achieving Food Security and Adequate Nutrition of the Poor: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(1), pages 241-271, February.
    2. Attanasio, Orazio & Polania-Reyes, Sandra & Pellerano, Luca, 2015. "Building social capital: Conditional cash transfers and cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 22-39.
    3. Kosec, Katrina & Song, Jie & Zhao, Hongdi, 2021. "Bringing Power to the People or the Well-Connected? Evidence from Ethiopia on the Gendered Effects of Decentralizing Service Delivery," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315258, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Michael L. Anderson & Fangwen Lu, 2017. "Learning to Manage and Managing to Learn: The Effects of Student Leadership Service," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(10), pages 3246-3261, October.
    5. Dennis Egger & Johannes Haushofer & Edward Miguel & Paul Niehaus & Michael Walker, 2022. "General Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence From Kenya," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(6), pages 2603-2643, November.
    6. Luca Braghieri & Ro'ee Levy & Alexey Makarin, 2022. "Social Media and Mental Health," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3660-3693, November.
    7. Nathan Fiala & Ana Garcia-Hernandez & Kritika Narula & Nishith Prakash, 2022. "Wheels of Change: Transforming Girls’ Lives with Bicycles," Working papers 2022-04, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    8. Fisher, Eleanor & Attah, Ramlatu & Barca, Valentina & O'Brien, Clare & Brook, Simon & Holland, Jeremy & Kardan, Andrew & Pavanello, Sara & Pozarny, Pamela, 2017. "The Livelihood Impacts of Cash Transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Beneficiary Perspectives from Six Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 299-319.
    9. Baird, Sarah & McIntosh, Craig & Özler, Berk, 2019. "When the money runs out: Do cash transfers have sustained effects on human capital accumulation?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 169-185.
    10. Gentilini,Ugo, 2016. "The revival of the"cash versus food"debate : new evidence for an old quandary ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7584, The World Bank.
    11. Bhanot, Syon P. & Han, Jiyoung & Jang, Chaning, 2018. "Workfare, wellbeing and consumption: Evidence from a field experiment with Kenya’s urban poor," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 372-388.
    12. Francesco Burchi & Federico Roscioli, 2022. "Can Integrated Social Protection Programmes Affect Social Cohesion? Mixed-Methods Evidence from Malawi," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1240-1263, June.
    13. Onur Altindag & Bilge Erten & Pinar Keskin, 2022. "Mental Health Costs of Lockdowns: Evidence from Age-Specific Curfews in Turkey," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 320-343, April.
    14. Jenny C. Aker & Rachid Boumnijel & Amanda McClelland & Niall Tierney, 2016. "Payment Mechanisms and Antipoverty Programs: Evidence from a Mobile Money Cash Transfer Experiment in Niger," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(1), pages 1-37.
    15. Haseeb, Muhammad & Vyborny, Kate, 2022. "Data, discretion and institutional capacity: Evidence from cash transfers in Pakistan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    16. Nathan Fiala & Ana Garcia-Hernandez & Kritika Narula & Nishith Prakash, 2022. "Wheels of Change: Transforming Girls' Lives with Bicycles," CESifo Working Paper Series 9865, CESifo.
    17. Fiala, Nathan & Garcia-Hernandez, Ana & Narula, Kritika & Prakash, Nishith, 2022. "Wheels of change: Transforming girls' lives with bicycles," Ruhr Economic Papers 943, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    18. Katherine Casey & Rachel Glennerster & Edward Miguel, 2012. "Reshaping Institutions: Evidence on Aid Impacts Using a Preanalysis Plan," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(4), pages 1755-1812.
    19. Maria Perrotta Berlin & Evelina Bonnier & Anders Olofsgård, 2024. "Foreign Aid and Female Empowerment," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(5), pages 662-684, May.
    20. Bonan, Jacopo & Cattaneo, Cristina & d’Adda, Giovanna & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Can social information programs be more effective? The role of environmental identity for energy conservation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Disability; Access of Poor to Social Services; Economic Assistance; Services&Transfers to Poor; Health Care Services Industry; Social Protections&Assistance; Educational Sciences; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods

    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:wbk:wbrwps:8333. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.