Replication Data for: Going the Last Mile: How Social Pensions Make Marginalized Elders Legible and Build the State’s Informational Capacity

The state’s reach across societal groups is often uneven. Lacking docu-
ments that provide official proof of age and identity, many elderly people in
countries of the Global South have long resided in the blind spot of states,
especially if they are poor, indigenous, live in rural areas, and have labored
outside the formal sector. How can states go the last mile and build infor-
mational capacity by incorporating particularly marginalized groups? What
induces marginalized elders to register their births decades after the fact?
Based on cross-national analyses, case studies of Mexico and Bolivia, and
a series of difference-in-difference designs, we show that bureaucratic social
welfare policies can incentivize identity documentation among hard-to-reach
populations. The rollout of social pensions prompted previously unregistered
elders to finally obtain birth registration and certification, making invisible
elders legible and enhancing the informational capacity of the state.