The Impact of Mass Bed Net Distribution Programs on Politics : Evidence from Tanzania
Functioning democracy requires that citizens reward politicians who deliver benefits, yet there is surprisingly little causal evidence of changes in citizen views or behavior in response to specific government programs. This question is examined in...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/266691486496858047/The-impact-of-mass-bed-net-distribution-programs-on-politics-evidence-from-Tanzania http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26022 |
| Summary: | Functioning democracy requires that
citizens reward politicians who deliver benefits, yet there
is surprisingly little causal evidence of changes in citizen
views or behavior in response to specific government
programs. This question is examined in Tanzania, which has
recently implemented large health programs targeting
diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. Tanzania's
2010-2011 national anti-malaria campaign took place
concurrently with a national household survey, which enables
a regression discontinuity design based on interview date to
estimate the effect of this program on the popularity of
local politicians. Bed net distribution results in large,
statistically significant improvements in the approval
levels of political leaders, especially in malaria endemic
areas. Effects are largest shortly after program
implementation, but smaller effects persist for up to six
months. These findings suggest that citizens update their
evaluation of politicians in response to programs,
especially when these services address important problems,
and that the effects decay over time, but not completely. |
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