Allocation Determinants of Social Assistance Programmes: Poverty or Political Motive? An Empirical Study of Bangladesh

This paper contributes to the field of both distributive politics and poverty literature by positing that the allocation of Social Assistance Programmes (SAPs) may deviate from the core objective of poverty reduction and can be influenced by electoral motives. Using data from Bangladesh, the study examines the determinants of the district-level coverage rate of the Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNPs) funded by the government. Besides, considering poverty as a covariate, the study also tests some of the conventional political distributive models on the coverage rate using the national election data. Results show that the district's poverty level does not have any significant association with the SSNP coverage rate. However, the district's swing vote share for the ruling party and the winning margin are significantly associated with the coverage rate. Additionally, no substantial influence of the core vote share for the ruling party and the political alignment of the elected representative was identified.