Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Patrons and Pork as Alternative Methods of Targeting Resources

政治学博士论文研究：赞助人和猪肉作为瞄准资源的替代方法

• 批准号: 0719989
• 负责人: John Huber
• 金额: $ 1.13万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-08-01 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0719989&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Science

Primary Investigators: John D Huber Co-PI: Katharine A BaldwinTitle: Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Patrons and Pork as Alternative Methods of Targeting Resources0719989AbstractWhy do politicians sometimes use government resources to provide patronage tolocal elites, while at other times, they invest public funds in projects that benefit entire communities? The existing literature does not address this question; scholars have focused on explaining which communities receive government resources, not how broadly resources are distributed within communities. However, it is important to distinguish between a project that builds a road benefiting an entire town and a project that resurfaces the driveway leading to a local leader's home. Unfortunately, elites frequently capture the main benefits from development projects in poor communities, undermining the potential economic and social benefits of these investments. This research project involves collecting original data from Zambia to test theories of when national politicians use government resources to win the support of key local leaders rather than distributing them so that the wider community benefits. To distinguish between these two types of redistribution, I will collect data on the spatial distribution of public infrastructure projects relative to the homes of traditional chiefs, who are the most powerful local leaders in Zambia. My dataset will combine government data with my own Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of the locations of chiefs' homes and information obtained from an original survey of chiefs. The data analysis techniques proposed in this project have broad implications for the study of patronage politics, an area of research that has been hindered by the absence of empirical measures. The project proposes a geographic method of measuring the amount of patronage provided to local elites that can be replicated by other scholars studying similar topics. The project also has important implications for policymakers interested in improving the delivery of public goods and services to poor communities. It shows that infrastructure projects can be targeted narrowly at elites or they can be placed so that entire communities benefit. Individuals concerned with improving citizens' access to basic infrastructure need to understand the circumstances under which politicians can be encouraged to target resources so that they benefit a broader segment of their constituents.

主要研究者：John D Huber Co-PI：Katharine A Baldwin标题：政治学博士论文研究：赞助人和猪肉作为目标资源的替代方法0719989摘要为什么政治家有时使用政府资源提供赞助tolocal精英，而在其他时候，他们投资公共资金的项目，有利于整个社区？现有的文献并没有解决这个问题;学者们专注于解释哪些社区获得政府资源，而不是资源在社区内的分布有多广泛。然而，重要的是要区分一个项目，建立一个有利于整个城镇的道路和一个项目，重新铺设车道通往当地领导人的家。不幸的是，精英阶层往往从贫困社区的发展项目中攫取主要利益，从而破坏了这些投资的潜在经济和社会效益。该研究项目涉及从赞比亚收集原始数据，以测试国家政治家何时利用政府资源赢得主要地方领导人的支持，而不是分配资源以使更广泛的社区受益的理论。为了区分这两种类型的再分配，我将收集公共基础设施项目相对于传统酋长家园的空间分布数据，他们是赞比亚最有权力的地方领导人。我的数据集将把联合收割机政府数据与我自己的全球定位系统（GPS）测量的酋长家的位置和从酋长原始调查中获得的信息结合起来。在这个项目中提出的数据分析技术具有广泛的影响，赞助政治的研究，一个领域的研究，一直受到阻碍的实证措施的缺乏。 该项目提出了一种地理方法来衡量提供给当地精英的赞助量，可以被其他研究类似主题的学者复制。该项目还对有意改善向贫穷社区提供公共货物和服务的决策者产生重要影响。它表明，基础设施项目可以狭隘地针对精英，也可以使整个社区受益。 关心改善公民获得基本基础设施的机会的个人需要了解在何种情况下可以鼓励政治家有针对性地利用资源，使更广泛的选民受益。