Reproducibility package for Can Redistribution Change Policy Views? Aid and Attitudes Toward Refugees in Uganda
Overview
Many public policies create (perceived) winners and losers, but there is little evidence on whether redistribution can support new political economy equilibria that raise aggregate welfare. We study a Ugandan policy that redistributes 30% of foreign aid for refugees to Ugandans while allowing refugees to work and move freely. To test whether compensation influences support for refugee integration, we randomly distribute cash grants to natives that are explicitly labeled as aid shared from the refugee response. We find substantial impacts on policy preferences that persist for at least two years and work through changing beliefs about the economic effects of refugees on Ugandans. Sharing information about public goods funded by the refugee response but not providing a grant has smaller, though still significant, effects. In contrast, we find initially positive impacts of intergroup contact- implemented as business mentorship by an experienced refugee- but these impacts do not persist. Our results indicate that economic interventions can shape policy views even on issues greatly influenced by cultural concerns, such as immigration.
Reproducibility Package
| Repository name | URI |
|---|---|
| Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) | https://reproducibility.worldbank.org |
Reproducibility
Paper exhibits were reproduced in a computer with the following specifications:
– OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
– Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1145G7 CPU @ 2.60GHz
– Memory available: 15.7 GB
– Software version: Stata version 18 MP
~3-hours run time
The data is expected to be made public through the Microdata Library in the coming weeks. For now, accessing the data may be difficult, so we have included the log file to allow users to review the results.
Once the data is available, users only need to update the directory in the main do-file and run the script. This will reproduce all tables except for the p-values for Table A15, which took the authors two months to compute due to its computational intensity. To reproduce the p-values for this table, users should change the bootstrap option from 1 to 100,000. Please note that this process was not done by the replicators.
Data
All data is temporarily embargoed by the authors (expected to be available at the Microdata Library in the upcoming weeks). Please see more details in the README file.
Description
| Author | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Travis Baseler | University of Rochester | travis.baseler@rochester.edu |
| Thomas Ginn | Center for Global Development | tginn@cgdev.org |
| Robert Hakiza | Young African Refugees for Integral Development | robert@yarid.org |
| Helidah Ogude-Chambert | University of Oxford | helidah.ogude@qeh.ox.ac.uk |
| Olivia Woldemikael | Harvard University | woldemikael@g.harvard.edu |
We appreciate comments from David Atkin, Samuel Bazzi, Simone Bertoli, Christopher Blair, Arun Chandrasekhar, Michael Clemens, Kevin Donovan, Pascaline Dupas, Dave Evans, Marcel Fafchamps, Fred Finan, Andre Groeger, Jens Hainmueller, Rebecca Hamlin, Horacio Larreguy, Francesco Loiacono, Mashail Malik, Melanie Morten, Pia Raer, Justin Sandefur, Julia Seither, Walter Steingress, Marco Tabellini, Jeremy Weinstein, Marc Witte, and seminar participants at NBER/BREAD, Stanford, Harvard, CU Denver, WGAPE, the Joint Data Center, MIEDC, NOVAfrica, APSA, ESOC, and the International Conference on Migration and Development. We are grateful to staff at YARID; International Research Consortium, especially Daniel Kibuuka Musoke, Aidah Nakitende, and Daniel Senjovu; and Lukendo Mbokani Jerry at OneYouth OneHeart Initiative. We thank Lipeng Chen, Hyejin Lim, Ande Shen, and Christopher Weibel for their outstanding research and eld assistance. We are grateful for the funding that was provided by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the IKEA Foundation, Stanford University, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), awarded through Innovation for Poverty Action's Peace & Recovery Program, and the UK Government, awarded through the \Building the Evidence on Protracted Forced Displacement" program managed by the World Bank Group (WBG) and established in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This work does not necessarily reflect the views of the UK Government, FCDO, WBG, UNHCR, or any of the authors' affiliations or funders. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards at Stanford (#44743), Harvard (IRB19-2041), Rochester (#4098), the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (SS 5014), and the Mildmay Uganda Research Ethics Committee (0504-2019). The AEA RCT registration number is 5229. An earlier version was entitled "Can Aid Change Attitudes Toward Refugees? Experimental Evidence From Uganda."
2024-09
Scope and coverage
| Location | Code |
|---|---|
| Uganda | UGA |
Disclaimer
The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.
Access and rights
| Name | URI |
|---|---|
| Modified BSD3 | https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/ |
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas Ginn | Center for Global Development | tginn@cgdev.org |
| Reproducibility WBG | World Bank | reproducibility@worldbank.org |
Information on metadata
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproducibility WBG | DIME | World Bank - Development Impact Department | Verification and preparation of metadata |
2024-09-12
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