Journal of Development Economics · 2026 · [{"name": "Charles Siriban", "affiliation": ["The University of Queensland"]}]
中文摘要
政治人物之间的关系会影响公共资源的分配，这一点已得到充分证实，尤其是在官员拥有较大自由裁量权的政策领域。其他政策领域，如灾害应对，其定向自由裁量的空间则更为有限。在这些情境下，政治联盟在多大程度上影响资源分配？聚焦菲律宾案例，我考察两位主要地方政治人物——省长与国会议员——之间的亲属关系是否影响其对台风冲击的应对。利用接近选举的断点回归设计，我发现，有亲属关系的省长比其他省长更好地应对强台风冲击。我认为，这一效应可由供给和需求两个渠道来解释。我发现了提示性证据，表明省长会利用其与国会议员的联系向中央政府请求更多援助。此外，选民会因有亲属关系的省长应对强台风的表现而给予其奖励。这些结果提供了政治联盟对财政资源分配影响的下界估计。
Abstract
It is well-established that ties between politicians influence the distribution of public resources, particularly in policy domains where officials enjoy substantial discretion. Other policy areas, such as disaster response, have more limited scope for discretionary targeting. To what extent does political alliance influence the allocation of resources in these settings? Focusing on the case of the Philippines, I examine if kinship ties between two major local politicians- provincial governor and congressperson- influence the response to typhoon shocks. Using a close-election regression discontinuity design, I find that kin-connected governors respond better than other governors to strong typhoon shocks. I argue that the effect can be explained by both supply and demand channels. I find suggestive evidence that governors leverage their connections to congresspersons to request more assistance from the national government. Furthermore, voters reward kin-connected governors for their response to strong typhoons. These results provide a lower-bound estimate on the effects of political alliances on the allocation of fiscal resources.