Do anti-poverty policies sway voters? Evidence from a meta-analysis of Conditional Cash Transfers

Araújo, V. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5392-5646 (2021) Do anti-poverty policies sway voters? Evidence from a meta-analysis of Conditional Cash Transfers. Research & Politics, 8 (1). ISSN 2053-1680 doi: 10.1177/2053168021991715

Abstract/Summary

Since the 1990s, many governments in middle and low-income countries have used conditional cash transfers to alleviate poverty. However, the evidence of the electoral consequences of this type of anti-poverty intervention remains inconclusive. Do voters reward politicians when they implement conditional cash transfers? This study conducts a meta-analysis using a sample of 10 randomized controlled trials and regression discontinuity designs (35 estimates from six countries in Latin America and Asia) to address this question. The result shows a positive effect of conditional cash transfers on voter support for the incumbents and no evidence of publication bias in the selected sample. Estimated effect sizes tend to be larger in observational studies, unpublished manuscripts, and articles published in political science. These results provide more conclusive evidence that poor voters also respond to non-clientelistic strategies of electoral targeting in developing countries.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/114811
Identification Number/DOI	10.1177/2053168021991715
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Politics and International Relations
Publisher	Sage
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