Undermining Clientelism with Collective Confidence: Unbundling the Individual and Spillover Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers.

A growing body of evidence suggests that conditional cash transfers (CCTs) can shift voters’ electoral choices. Yet there remains a mismatch between reliance on aggregated municipal data and individual-level theories focused on retrospective rewards or reduced vulnerability to clientelism. Since CCT...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Latin American Research Review Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 124 - 147
Autor principal: Phillips, Jonathan
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Cambridge University Press Mar2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192777357&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 192777357
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00238791
        LAR
      jtl: Latin American Research Review
      issn: 00238791
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Mar2026
      vid: 61
      iid: 1
      pid: 15979
      pub: Cambridge University Press
    artinfo:
      ui:
        192777357
        10.1017/lar.2025.10088
      ppf: 124
      ppct: 23
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 1.2MB
      tig:
        atl: Undermining Clientelism with Collective Confidence: Unbundling the Individual and Spillover Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers.
      aug:
        au: Phillips, Jonathan
        affil:
          Institute of Political Science, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
          University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
          Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US.
      su:
        Patronage
        Public welfare
        Externalities
        Collective action
        Conditional cash transfer programs
        Voters
      sug:
        subj:
          Patronage
          Public welfare
          Externalities
          Collective action
          Administration of Human Resource Programs (except Education, Public Health, and Veterans' Affairs Programs)
          Emergency and Other Relief Services
          Health and Welfare Funds
          Other Individual and Family Services
          Conditional cash transfer programs
          Voters
      keyword:
        ação coletiva
        clientelism
        clientelismo
        collective action
        conditional cash transfers
        feedback de políticas
        policy feedback
        transferências condicionais de renda
        ação coletiva
        clientelismo
        feedback de políticas
        transferências condicionais de renda
        ação coletiva
        clientelism
        clientelismo
        collective action
        conditional cash transfers
        feedback de políticas
        policy feedback
        transferências condicionais de renda
        ação coletiva
        clientelismo
        feedback de políticas
        transferências condicionais de renda
      ab: A growing body of evidence suggests that conditional cash transfers (CCTs) can shift voters’ electoral choices. Yet there remains a mismatch between reliance on aggregated municipal data and individual-level theories focused on retrospective rewards or reduced vulnerability to clientelism. Since CCTs also produce plausible spillovers on nonbeneficiaries, verifying who reacts, and how, is crucial to understanding their electoral effects. To empirically unbundle individual and spillover effects, the analysis exploits plausibly exogenous variation between beneficiaries of Brazil’s Bolsa Família and those on the waiting list. The evidence suggests that CCTs strengthen beneficiaries’ attitudes against clientelism, but they vote no differently than nonbeneficiaries. However, spillovers are strong: As CCT coverage expands, both beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries turn against local incumbents. This pattern is inconsistent with existing theory, which relies on either polarization or positive spillovers. Instead, I propose a theory of collective confidence derived from strategic voting incentives in which CCT expansion fortifies all voters in resisting clientelism.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N