Poor slum-dwellers are FOUR times less likely to believe that they will get a response when directly approaching an official than poor rural villager.

So controlling for income, the slum dwellers are much more despondent about government - find Dr Gabi Kruks-Wisner (UVA) and Dr Adam Auerbach (American University).

This reflects differing observations and expectations in urban and rural places.

What rocked my priors is their argument that clientelism is not bad governance, it does not necessarily worsen outcomes. Perhaps it's just another mode of claims-making?

Read her full paper here: https://krukswisner.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/auerbach_kruks-wisner_pop_2020.pdf

If you'd like to hear more about "Claiming the State", check out my earlier podcast with Gabi.

In the podcast, Gabi highlights Dr Tariq Tachil's paper how ethnographic research can improve surveys: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12116-018-9272-3

We also discuss my paper on Cambodia, which you can read here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243219865510

Dr Gabi Kruks Wisner is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia: https://krukswisner.wordpress.com/ @gabi_kw

She co-wrote this paper with Dr Adam Auerbach at American University https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/aauerba.cfm @adam_m_auerbach