The Impact of Transfers on Citizen Cooperation: Theory and a Lab-In-The-Field Test in Mexico

Aldama, Abraham

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4053673

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, in such places, authorities will benefit from people providing more cooperation. This result is consistent with much of the experimental literature on legitimacy (Aldama, 2021;Dickson, Gordon & Huber, 2015, 2014Baldassarri & Grossman, 2011;Grossman & Baldassarri, 2012). An increase in the perceived legitimacy of an authority increases people's willingness to cooperate with others, in particular with the authority.…”

Section: The Modelsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…To do so, I build on a formal literature that explores the role of norms in conflict (Berman, Shapiro & Felter, 2011), law enforcement (Akerlof & Yellen, 1994), organized crime (Bueno de Mesquita & Hafer, 2008;Skaperdas, 2001), and terrorism (Dragu & Polborn, 2014). Moreover, the model includes insights from a developing formal literature on the accounts of the importance of legitimacy (Aldama, 2021;Akerlof, 2016Akerlof, , 2017.…”

Section: The Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A theory of social programs, legitimacy, and citizen cooperation with the state

Aldama

2021

Journal of Peace Research

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Aid and social programs are commonly used to fight insurgencies. However, sometimes they fail to achieve their goal of increasing citizen cooperation with the state. I propose a series of game-theoretic models that focus on the strategic interaction between a state and a citizen in the face of a challenge to the state’s monopoly of power by an insurgency. I argue that even if the provision of aid or social programs increases citizens’ intrinsic motivation to cooperate with the state, it does not necessarily translate into more cooperation. I show that citizen cooperation depends on whether the increase in the provision of aid is accompanied by an increase in the use of violent or hard tools by the state, the citizens’ expectation of future rewards, and the insurgency’s response. The models thus provide a rationale for why even if social programs increase state legitimacy, they may fail to increase citizen cooperation.

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