Paper #1589

Title:

Urbanization patterns, social interactions and female voting in rural Paraguay

Authors:

Alberto Chong, Gianmarco León, Vivian Roza, Martin Valdivia and Gabriela Vega

Date:

November 2017

Abstract:

We use a field experiment to evaluate the impact of two informational get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns to boost female electoral participation in Paraguay. We find that public rallies have no effect either on registration or on voter turnout in the 2013 presidential elections. However, households that received door-to-door (D2D) treatment are 4.6 percentage points more likely to vote. Experimental variation on the intensity of the treatment at the locality level allows us to estimate spillover effects, which are present in localities that are geographically more concentrated, and thus may favor social interactions. Reinforcement effects to the already treated population are twice as large as diffusion to the untreated. Our results underscore the importance of taking into account urbanization patterns when designing informational campaigns.

Keywords:

Voter behavior, electoral politics, urbanization, spillover effects, Paraguay

JEL codes:

O10, D72 , O53, D71

Area of Research:

Labour, Public, Development and Health Economics

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