Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi
Do electoral considerations play a role in the targeting of humanitarian transfers? We analyze the targeting of direct cash and food transfers distributed in Malawi in response to an exceptionally poor harvest following a late and erratic rainy season of 2015-16. Combining household survey data on t...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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International Food Policy Research Institute
2022
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125315 |
| _version_ | 1855536354016886784 |
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| author | Duchoslav, Jan Kenamu, Edwin Thunde, Jack |
| author_browse | Duchoslav, Jan Kenamu, Edwin Thunde, Jack |
| author_facet | Duchoslav, Jan Kenamu, Edwin Thunde, Jack |
| author_sort | Duchoslav, Jan |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Do electoral considerations play a role in the targeting of humanitarian transfers? We analyze the targeting of direct cash and food transfers distributed in Malawi in response to an exceptionally poor harvest following a late and erratic rainy season of 2015-16. Combining household survey data on transfers with a remotely sensed measure of drought and with the results of the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections, we show that transfers were disproportionately targeted at marginal constituencies. Rather than distributing the transfers based solely on need or mobilizing its tribal base, the government attempted to persuade swing voters to support its candidates in the next elections. We found no evidence that this strategy was successful at increasing the vote of ruling party candidates in subsequent elections. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace125315 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1253152025-11-06T07:20:57Z Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi Duchoslav, Jan Kenamu, Edwin Thunde, Jack hunger cash transfers political systems disaster relief Do electoral considerations play a role in the targeting of humanitarian transfers? We analyze the targeting of direct cash and food transfers distributed in Malawi in response to an exceptionally poor harvest following a late and erratic rainy season of 2015-16. Combining household survey data on transfers with a remotely sensed measure of drought and with the results of the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections, we show that transfers were disproportionately targeted at marginal constituencies. Rather than distributing the transfers based solely on need or mobilizing its tribal base, the government attempted to persuade swing voters to support its candidates in the next elections. We found no evidence that this strategy was successful at increasing the vote of ruling party candidates in subsequent elections. 2022-10-06 2022-11-03T07:09:16Z 2022-11-03T07:09:16Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125315 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Duchoslav, Jan; Kenamu, Edwin; and Thunde, Jack. 2022. Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi. MaSSP Working Paper 39. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136401. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=yNCTEAAAQBAJ https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=yNCTEAAAQBAJ |
| spellingShingle | hunger cash transfers political systems disaster relief Duchoslav, Jan Kenamu, Edwin Thunde, Jack Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi |
| title | Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi |
| title_full | Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi |
| title_fullStr | Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi |
| title_short | Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi |
| title_sort | targeting hunger or votes the political economy of humanitarian transfers in malawi |
| topic | hunger cash transfers political systems disaster relief |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125315 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT duchoslavjan targetinghungerorvotesthepoliticaleconomyofhumanitariantransfersinmalawi AT kenamuedwin targetinghungerorvotesthepoliticaleconomyofhumanitariantransfersinmalawi AT thundejack targetinghungerorvotesthepoliticaleconomyofhumanitariantransfersinmalawi |