Primary Outcomes (explanation)
State-Society Relations: Rather than explicitly asking respondents about their “trust” or “confidence” in institutions, we gauge their willingness to engage (or not) with state institutions. Three considerations inform this decision: first, we expect that concrete activities are easier to assess for respondents than abstract notions like “trust”. Second, from an aid-policy perspective, (intended) behavior seems more relevant than general attitudes. Thus, we rely on four survey items related to voting, taxation, contacting and complaining. Respondents can answer to each item on a four-option Likert scale ranging between ``very likely'' (4), ``likely'' (3), ``unlikely'' (2), or ``very unlikely'' (1). Responses to each of the four item will be standardized, combined into an index and standardized again (See PAP for detailed questions).
Intergroup relations: To measure our second main outcome, we rely on vignettes that confront respondents with hypothetical distributional decisions in zero-sum situations. Again, our main motive for relying on vignettes rather than standard questions related to “trust in others” is to make survey items as concrete as possible. Specifically, we rely on two types of scenarios: the first one focuses on the inter-village distribution of a resource surplus, the second one focuses on political support for discriminatory political campaigns. In both cases, we ask for respondents' own distributional preferences as well as their expectations of other villages’ preferences. Responses to each of the four items will be standardized, combined into an index and standardized again. (See PAP)