Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name:  Alexander James
Author-Name-First: Alexander
Author-Name-Last: James
Author-Email:  alex.james@uaa.alaska.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage

Author-Name:  Nathaly Rivera
Author-Name-First: Nathaly
Author-Name-Last: Rivera
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, University of Chile

Author-Name:  Brock Smith
Author-Name-First: Brock
Author-Name-Last: Smith
Author-Workplace-Name: Agricultural Economics and Economics, Montana State University

Title: Cash Transfers and Voter Turnout

Abstract: We estimate the effect of cash transfers on voter turnout, leveraging a large-scale natural experiment, the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) program, which provides residents with a check of varying size one month before election day. We find that transfers cause people to vote, especially in gubernatorial elections in which a 10% increase in cash ($180) causes a 1.4 percentage point increase in turnout. Effects are concentrated among racial minorities, theÊyoung, and poor. There is little evidence that transfers reduce logistical costs of voting, but rather operate by reducing voter apathy among the low-income electorate. 
 
Creation-date: 2022-10
Number: 2022-01

Handle: RePEc:ala:wpaper:2022-01
File-URL: http://www.econpapers.uaa.alaska.edu/RePEC/ala/wpaper/ALA202201.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf

Classification-JEL: D72, H31, H70, I38
Keywords: Voter Turnout, Civic Engagement, Cash Transfers, Natural-Field Experiment, Democratic Institutions
Publication-Status: