Social hierarchies and the allocation of development aid: Evidence from the 2015 earthquake in Nepal
中文摘要
我们研究歧视和群内偏袒在社区委员会分配公共资金中的作用。具体而言，我们考察种姓等级制度对2015年尼泊尔地震后给予家庭的紧急援助金额的影响。地方委员会在地震后立即分配援助，并且——官方上——援助金额是住房损毁程度的函数。为在此背景下识别歧视与群内偏袒，我们利用关于房屋特征与住房损毁的丰富数据，并利用地震强度的外生变异。我们首先提供了这些委员会存在基于种姓的歧视的证据：高种姓家庭获得的援助多于低种姓家庭。其次，我们发现高种姓家庭中存在群内偏袒：如果来自其自身（高）种姓的个人参与了援助分配，高种姓家庭获得的援助更多。与之相反，低种姓家庭并未因援助分配委员会中有其自身（低）种姓代表而受益。结果凸显了社会等级制度在偏袒研究中的重要性，并有助于更好地理解社会结构对发展政策实施的意义。
Abstract
We study the role of discrimination and in-group biases in the allocation of public funds by community-based committees. Specifically, we investigate the effect of caste hierarchies on the amount of emergency aid given to households after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Local committees allocated aid immediately after the earthquake, and –officially– the amount of aid was a function of the magnitude of the housing damage. To identify discrimination and in-group favoritism in this context, we utilize rich data on house characteristics and housing damage and exploit exogenous variation in earthquake intensity. We first provide evidence for caste-based discrimination by these committees: Upper caste households received more aid than lower caste households. Second, we find in-group favoritism among upper caste households: Upper caste households received more aid if individuals from their own (upper) caste were involved in the allocation of aid. In contrast, lower caste households did not benefit from the presence of their own (lower) caste representatives in aid allocation committees. The results highlight the importance of social hierarchies in the study of favoritism and contribute to a better understanding of social structure for the implementation of development policy.