The Impact of Mass Bed Net Distribution Programs on Politics : Evidence from Tanzania

Croke, Kevin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: health;    malaria;    bed nets;    political economy;    regression;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7963
RP-ID  :  WPS7963

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Functioning democracy requires thatcitizens reward politicians who deliver benefits, yet thereis surprisingly little causal evidence of changes in citizenviews or behavior in response to specific governmentprograms. This question is examined in Tanzania, which hasrecently implemented large health programs targetingdiseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. Tanzania's2010-2011 national anti-malaria campaign took placeconcurrently with a national household survey, which enablesa regression discontinuity design based on interview date toestimate the effect of this program on the popularity oflocal politicians. Bed net distribution results in large,statistically significant improvements in the approvallevels of political leaders, especially in malaria endemicareas. Effects are largest shortly after programimplementation, but smaller effects persist for up to sixmonths. These findings suggest that citizens update theirevaluation of politicians in response to programs,especially when these services address important problems,and that the effects decay over time, but not completely.