Poverty Traps? Clientelism and Local Development

• In Event: The Subnational Turn (I): Decentralization and Political Economy

Abstract

In theory poverty is expected to drive clientelism. Poor voters have more pressing economic needs and shorter time horizons and may be more responsive to clientelistic benefits. However, the empirical evidence from across the globe is mixed. This paper aims to contribute to this debate and aims to analyze the relationship between clientelism and poverty at subnational level in rural and urban areas. It focuses on Romania due to its documented use of clientelism and large subnational variation of development across the urban and rural areas. We use an original set of metrics that showcases different layers of precarity: from individual precarity (i.e. income, education), to community-level of economic development (i.e. poverty, local human development, unemployment, gross domestic product) and further on to the extent of both private and public economic opportunities in the community (i.e. the size of the private sector, size of local public budgets and expenditures). We use metrics of clientelism from a survey conducted at the subnational level in January 2021. Our results show that it is not only poverty that drives clientelism. Different forms of clientelistic linkages correlate with varying precarity and economic development levels. Wealthier areas encounter more sophisticated clientelistic transactions (i.e. public procurement). In comparison, impoverished areas are more inclined to respond to clientelistic transactions involving goods, services or public employment. This paper's findings reveal how different development strategies at the local level can be linked to political outcomes and vice-versa.

Authors

• George Stefan, Babeș Bolyai University

• Clara Volintiru, Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE)

• Raluca Andreea Popa, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

• Anca Maria Paraschiv, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

• Zlei Ecaterina Teodora, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies