Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: When Do Citizens Grasp the Purse Strings? Budget Transparency and Political Engagement in Indonesia

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。提供有效率、反应迅速的政府。特别是，它研究了三种不同的机制，动员基层的压力，良好的政府，并测试每个机制的解释力，通过在印度尼西亚的实地实验。第一个是权利机制，它声称当公民清楚地了解他们有权获得政府提供的商品和服务时，他们将追究政治家的责任。在许多新兴民主国家，甚至这种基本知识也是脆弱的。第二个是纳税人机制，这意味着公民只有在向政府缴纳财政捐款时才会采取行动。由于许多发展中国家政府只收取非正式的费用、税收和贿赂，因此面临的挑战是鼓励公民更多地将自己视为政府的债权人而不是债务人。第三种机制以能力为中心，强调的不是加强动机的重要性，而是通过提高公民的审查能力。精通基本预算编制和公共财政问题。为了测试哪种机制具有最强的解释力，研究人员将与印度尼西亚倡导组织PATTIRO合作，开展一项宣传活动，其内容明确反映了权利、纳税人和能力机制。个人和村庄将被随机选择接受信息。类似于临床药物试验，随机选择创建一个“治疗”组和一个“对照”组，在开始时所有关键特征都相同。运动后两组之间结果的任何差异都可以完全归因于运动本身的影响。每种机制对个人的态度和行为的影响，对问责制将使用之前和之后的调查1600人从治疗组和对照组抽样测量。 通过确定个人层面的赋权决定因素，本研究将找到基层的公共产品和更好的政府在发展中国家的压力的起源。这一项目不仅应引起研究人员的兴趣，以了解公民何时要求当选官员负责，而且还应引起众多发展组织的兴趣，这些组织对增强边缘化和政治弱势群体权能的最有效战略感兴趣。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The goal of this project is to explore the link between public demand for and elected officials? supply of efficient, responsive government. In particular, it examines three distinct mechanisms for mobilizing grassroots pressure for good government, and tests the explanatory power of each mechanism through a field experiment in Indonesia. The first is a rights mechanism, which claims citizens will hold politicians accountable when they have a clear understanding of their entitlement to government-provided goods and services. In many new democracies, even this basic knowledge is fragile. The second is a taxpayer mechanism, which suggests citizens will only take action when they make fiscal contributions to government. Since many developing country governments collect only informal fees, taxes and bribes, the challenge is to encourage citizens to see themselves more as creditors than debtors to government. The third mechanism centers on capacity and highlights the importance not of strengthening the motivation but rather the ability to scrutinize by enhancing citizens? proficiency in basic budgeting and public finance issues. To test which mechanism has the most explanatory power, the researcher will partner with PATTIRO, an Indonesian advocacy organization, to conduct an information campaign with content that distinctly reflects the rights, taxpayer and capacity mechanisms. Individuals and villages will be selected to receive the information randomly. Similar to a clinical drug trial, random selection creates a 'treatment' group and a 'control' group that are identical in all key characteristics at the outset. Any difference in outcomes across both groups following the campaign can then solely be attributed to the impact of the campaign itself. The impact of each mechanism on individual attitudes and behavior toward accountability will be measured using a before and after survey of 1600 individuals sampled from both treatment and control groups. By identifying the individual level determinants of empowerment, this study will locate the origins of grassroots pressure for public goods and better government in developing countries. This project should be of interest not only to researchers seeking to understand when citizens hold elected officials accountable but also to the numerous development organizations interested in the most effective strategies for empowering the marginalized and politically disadvantaged.