Kinship ties in politics and response to extreme weather shocks

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11889421
AutoresCharles Siriban (0000-0001-8789-3945, The University of Queensland, autor de correspondencia)
Año2026
Volumen180
Páginas103716-103716
Fecha de publicación2026-01-09
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Development Economics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0304-3878 • E-ISSN: 1872-6089
EditorialElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103716
OpenAlexW7119632981
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas40

It is well-established that ties between politicians influence the distribution of public resources, particularly in policy domains where officials enjoy substantial discretion. Other policy areas, such as disaster response, have more limited scope for discretionary targeting. To what extent does political alliance influence the allocation of resources in these settings? Focusing on the case of the Philippines, I examine if kinship ties between two major local politicians- provincial governor and congressperson- influence the response to typhoon shocks. Using a close-election regression discontinuity design, I find that kin-connected governors respond better than other governors to strong typhoon shocks. I argue that the effect can be explained by both supply and demand channels. I find suggestive evidence that governors leverage their connections to congresspersons to request more assistance from the national government. Furthermore, voters reward kin-connected governors for their response to strong typhoons. These results provide a lower-bound estimate on the effects of political alliances on the allocation of fiscal resources.

Extreme weather · Kinship · Politics · Agricultural risk and resilience · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology