Replication Data for: Quantity over Quality? Local Income Inequality and Public Service Delivery in Brazil

How does income inequality affect public service provision? Theories of redistribution predict that inequality strengthens coalitions involving the poor, boosting public services in poorer neighbourhoods, but emerging evidence suggests inequality can harm public service quality and the poor's welfare. To reconcile these findings, this study integrates theories of redistribution and accountability. Inequality empowers the poor, but polarized resources also limit the poor's ability to observe public service performance and hold their representatives accountable, skewing representatives' incentives towards more visible actions such as constructing new infrastructure at the expense of less visible services such as maintenance and training. Exploiting local variation in municipal income inequality in Brazil and plausibly exogenous variation in inequality from the colonial period, spatial microdata on education and healthcare confirm that poor neighbourhoods in unequal municipalities receive more visible infrastructure but fewer hidden inputs, compromising public service quality.

收入不平等（income inequality）如何影响公共服务供给（public service provision）？再分配理论（redistribution theories）预测，收入不平等会强化贫困群体参与的政治联盟，提升贫困社区的公共服务供给水平，但新兴研究证据表明，收入不平等反而会损害公共服务质量与贫困群体的福祉。为调和这些相悖的研究结论，本研究整合了再分配理论与问责制（accountability）理论。收入不平等虽能赋予贫困群体更多政治力量，但资源分化同时也削弱了贫困群体监督公共服务绩效、问责其代表的能力，这会扭曲公职人员的激励导向，使其更倾向于开展可见度较高的行动（例如新建基础设施），而以牺牲维护、培训这类可见度较低的服务投入为代价。本研究利用巴西市级层面收入不平等的区域异质性，以及源自殖民时期（colonial period）的、合理外生的不平等变动作为识别工具，结合教育与医疗领域的空间微观数据（spatial microdata），实证验证了：在收入不平等程度较高的市级辖区中，贫困社区获得了更多可见度较高的基础设施投入，但隐性服务投入却有所减少，最终损害了公共服务的整体质量。