From Citizen's Rights to Civic Responsibilities

Arbeitspapier

In less developed countries the state does not extends its legality homogenously. A share of the population suffers its absence or its illegal presence. In this article we argue that such irregular state intervention has more negative consequences that previously thought. Individuals who suffer lack of access to citizen's rights blame the state for their hardship, and negatively reciprocate by ignoring their civic duties. The building blocks of our hypothesis are attribution theory and reciprocity. We provide evidence based on self-report survey data for almost one hundred developing countries; an observational study where compliance with civic duties can be objectively assessed; and a list experiment. The evidence indicates that people who are discriminated by government officials, or workers who do not receive legally-mandated benefits, are less likely to comply with civic duties such as voting and paying taxes. Exclusion erodes civic responsibilities.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 12457

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Tax Evasion and Avoidance ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
• Subject: reciprocity ; trust ; taxes ; voting ; rights ; citizenship

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Ronconi, Lucas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/202803
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET