Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting

Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting

This paper studies the impact of distributional policies on social cohesion. The focus is on South Africa, a country with the highest unemployment rate worldwide and a major destination hub for the forcibly displaced. The paper uses a regression di...

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Main Authors: Agüero, Jorge M., Fasola, Eniola
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2022
Subjects:
SOCIAL COHESION
ANTI-IMMIGRATION ATTITUDES
CASH TRANSFERS
DISTRIBUTIONAL POLICIES
UNEMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT OF DISPLACED PEOPLE
FORCIBLY DISPLACED HOST COUNTRY
REFUGEE ATTITUDES
IMPACT OF CASH TRANSFERS ON SOCIAL ATTITUDES
ATTITUDES TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS
DISCRIMINATION
INEQUITY
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099248306232210489/IDU05fde194806af0042ac0855a001f824cc60ff
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37597
id okr-10986-37597
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-375972022-06-28T05:10:40Z Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting Agüero, Jorge M. Fasola, Eniola SOCIAL COHESION ANTI-IMMIGRATION ATTITUDES CASH TRANSFERS DISTRIBUTIONAL POLICIES UNEMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT OF DISPLACED PEOPLE FORCIBLY DISPLACED HOST COUNTRY REFUGEE ATTITUDES IMPACT OF CASH TRANSFERS ON SOCIAL ATTITUDES ATTITUDES TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS DISCRIMINATION INEQUITY This paper studies the impact of distributional policies on social cohesion. The focus is on South Africa, a country with the highest unemployment rate worldwide and a major destination hub for the forcibly displaced. The paper uses a regression discontinuity design based on the eligibility rule of an unconditional cash transfer program (Old Age Pension) together with multiple rounds of the country’s Social Attitudes Survey and estimates the impact of the cash transfer to the local population on over 100 variables capturing different dimensions of social cohesion, while accounting for multiple hypothesis testing. Results show a limited impact of the transfer on social cohesion. Transfer increases life satisfaction and views favorable towards racial diversity. However, it has only a marginal effect on interpersonal trust and a very small effect on attitudes towards immigration. These findings are consistent with theoretical models where anti-immigrant behaviors are not the result of low-income but rather due to non-wage factors such as ethnic background or language barriers. 2022-06-27T14:45:39Z 2022-06-27T14:45:39Z 2022-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099248306232210489/IDU05fde194806af0042ac0855a001f824cc60ff http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37597 English Policy Research Working Papers;10103 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research South Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic SOCIAL COHESION
ANTI-IMMIGRATION ATTITUDES
CASH TRANSFERS
DISTRIBUTIONAL POLICIES
UNEMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT OF DISPLACED PEOPLE
FORCIBLY DISPLACED HOST COUNTRY
REFUGEE ATTITUDES
IMPACT OF CASH TRANSFERS ON SOCIAL ATTITUDES
ATTITUDES TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS
DISCRIMINATION
INEQUITY
spellingShingle SOCIAL COHESION
ANTI-IMMIGRATION ATTITUDES
CASH TRANSFERS
DISTRIBUTIONAL POLICIES
UNEMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT OF DISPLACED PEOPLE
FORCIBLY DISPLACED HOST COUNTRY
REFUGEE ATTITUDES
IMPACT OF CASH TRANSFERS ON SOCIAL ATTITUDES
ATTITUDES TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS
DISCRIMINATION
INEQUITY
Agüero, Jorge M.
Fasola, Eniola
Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting
geographic_facet South Africa
relation Policy Research Working Papers;10103
description This paper studies the impact of distributional policies on social cohesion. The focus is on South Africa, a country with the highest unemployment rate worldwide and a major destination hub for the forcibly displaced. The paper uses a regression discontinuity design based on the eligibility rule of an unconditional cash transfer program (Old Age Pension) together with multiple rounds of the country’s Social Attitudes Survey and estimates the impact of the cash transfer to the local population on over 100 variables capturing different dimensions of social cohesion, while accounting for multiple hypothesis testing. Results show a limited impact of the transfer on social cohesion. Transfer increases life satisfaction and views favorable towards racial diversity. However, it has only a marginal effect on interpersonal trust and a very small effect on attitudes towards immigration. These findings are consistent with theoretical models where anti-immigrant behaviors are not the result of low-income but rather due to non-wage factors such as ethnic background or language barriers.
format Working Paper
author Agüero, Jorge M.
Fasola, Eniola
author_facet Agüero, Jorge M.
Fasola, Eniola
author_sort Agüero, Jorge M.
title Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting
title_short Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting
title_full Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting
title_fullStr Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting
title_full_unstemmed Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting
title_sort distributional policies and social cohesion in a high-unemployment setting
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2022
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099248306232210489/IDU05fde194806af0042ac0855a001f824cc60ff
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37597
_version_ 1764487512173051904

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