One Mandarin Benefits the Whole Clan: Hometown Infrastructure and Nepotism in an Autocracy

This paper studies nepotism by government officials in an authoritarian regime. We collect a unique dataset of political promotions of officials in Vietnam and estimate their impact on public infrastructure in their hometowns. We find strong positive effects on several outcomes, some with lags, including roads to villages, marketplaces, clean water access, preschools, irrigation, and local radio broadcasters, as well as the hometown’s propensity to benefit from the State’s “poor commune support program”. Nepotism is not limited to only top-level officials, pervasive even among those without direct authority over hometown budgets, stronger when the hometown chairperson’s and promoted official’s ages are closer, and where provincial leadership has more discretionary power in shaping policies, suggesting that nepotism works through informal channels based on specific political power and environment. Contrary to pork barrel politics in democratic parliaments, members of the Vietnamese legislative body have little influence on infrastructure investments for their hometowns. Given the top-down nature of political promotions, officials arguably do not help their tiny communes in exchange for political support. Consistent with that, officials favor only their home commune and ignore their home district, which could offer larger political support. These findings suggest that nepotism is motivated by officials’ social preferences directed towards their related circles, and signals an additional form of corruption that may prevail in developing countries with low transparency.nepotism, infrastructure construction, official’s hometown, political connection,political promotion, social preference, directed altruism

Into the Gap: A Mixed Methods Study of Acculturation, Stress, and Refugee Family Functioning

Every day, new waves of refugees result from increasing social, political and environmental instabilities around the world. Numerous studies have detailed the various stressors and adjustment issues that refugees face when resettled in a new host society. The majority of these studies focus on individual-level variables and not on the family as a whole. Thus, more studies are needed to understand how refugee families adjust in the resettlement context in order to promote positive outcomes. Studies that have examined family-level functioning often focus on how acculturative differences increase stress in refugee families, contributing to higher levels of familial tension and conflict. This is referred to as the acculturation gap-distress hypothesis. However, these adverse effects have not been found consistently. The purpose of this dyadic, mixed methods study is to address the limitations in the literature by testing the acculturation gap-distress hypothesis, and to explore the relationship between acculturation, stress and refugee family functioning. Survey results of this study did not provide support for the acculturation gap-distress hypothesis. Perceived stress did not mediate the relationship between acculturation gaps and family functioning. Qualitative findings supported the notion that acculturation changes across the life course. Most tension and stress occurred during the early part of resettlement, when children were younger. As children and parents adjust to the host society, they learn and accept their differences and recognize these differences as strengths. These results and findings have important implications for service providers and resettlement agencies in establishing services that are crucial to the long-term adjustment of refugee families. Advisor: Yan R. Xi

Into the Gap: A Mixed Methods Study of Acculturation, Stress, and Refugee Family Functioning

Every day, new waves of refugees result from increasing social, political and environmental instabilities around the world. Numerous studies have detailed the various stressors and adjustment issues that refugees face when resettled in a new host society. The majority of these studies focus on individual-level variables and not on the family as a whole. Thus, more studies are needed to understand how refugee families adjust in the resettlement context in order to promote positive outcomes. Studies that have examined family-level functioning often focus on how acculturative differences increase stress in refugee families, contributing to higher levels of familial tension and conflict. This is referred to as the acculturation gap-distress hypothesis. However, these adverse effects have not been found consistently. The purpose of this dyadic, mixed methods study is to address the limitations in the literature by testing the acculturation gap-distress hypothesis, and to explore the relationship between acculturation, stress and refugee family functioning. Survey results of this study did not provide support for the acculturation gap-distress hypothesis. Perceived stress did not mediate the relationship between acculturation gaps and family functioning. Qualitative findings supported the notion that acculturation changes across the life course. Most tension and stress occurred during the early part of resettlement, when children were younger. As children and parents adjust to the host society, they learn and accept their differences and recognize these differences as strengths. These results and findings have important implications for service providers and resettlement agencies in establishing services that are crucial to the long-term adjustment of refugee families. Advisor: Yan R. Xi

One Mandarin Benefits the Whole Clan: Hometown Favoritism in an Authoritarian Regime

We study patronage politics in authoritarian Vietnam, using an exhaustive panel of ranking officials from 2000 to 2010 to estimate their promotions’ impact on infrastructure in their patrilineal hometowns. Favoritism is pervasive across all ranks, even among officials without budget authority. Promotions of officials strongly improve hometown infrastructure including roads, marketplaces, and irrigation. In contrast to democracies’ pork-barrel politics, elected legislators are not influential. Favoritism is likely motivated by officials’ social preferences for hometowns rather than by political considerations, because favors are narrowly targeted to small communes, and are stronger where local culture emphasizes the family bond

One Mandarin benefits the whole clan: hometown favoritism in an authoritarian regime

We study patronage politics in authoritarian Vietnam, using an exhaustive panel of ranking officials from 2000 to 2010 to estimate their promotions’ impact on infrastructure in their hometowns of patrilineal ancestry. Native officials’ promotions lead to a broad range of hometown infrastructure improvement. Hometown favoritism is pervasive across all ranks, even among officials without budget authority, except among elected legislators. Favors are narrowly targeted toward small communes that have no political power, and are strengthened with bad local governance and strong local family values. The evidence suggests a likely motive of social preferences for hometown

One Mandarin Benefits the Whole Clan: Hometown Favoritism in an Authoritarian Regime

We study patronage politics in authoritarian Vietnam, using an exhaustive panel of ranking officials from 2000 to 2010 to estimate their promotions' impact on infrastructure in their hometowns of patrilineal ancestry. Native officials' promotions lead to a broad range of hometown infrastructure improvement. Hometown favoritism is pervasive across all ranks, even among officials without budget authority, except among elected legislators. Favors are narrowly targeted toward small communes that have no political power, and are strengthened with bad local governance and strong local family values. The evidence suggests a likely motive of social preferences for hometown

One mandarin benefits the whole clan: hometown favoritism in an authoritarian regime

We study patronage politics in authoritarian Vietnam, using an exhaustive panel of 603 ranking officials from 2000 to 2010 to estimate their promotions’ impact on infrastructure in their hometowns of patrilineal ancestry. Native officials’ promotions lead to a broad range of hometown infrastructure improvement. Hometown favoritism is pervasive across all ranks, even among officials without budget authority, except among elected legislators. Favors are narrowly targeted towards small communes that have no political power, and are strengthened with bad local governance and strong local family values. The evidence suggests a likely motive of social preferences for hometown

Out of Sight, Out of Mind:The Value of Political Connections in Social Networks

This paper investigates the impact of social-network connections to politicians on firm value. We focus on the networks of university classmates and alumni among directors of U.S. public firms and congressmen. Using the Regression Discontinuity Design based on close elections from 2000 to 2008, we identify that a director’s connection to an elected congressman causes a Weighted Average Treatment Effect on Cumulative Abnormal Returns of -2.65% surrounding the election date. The effect is robust and consistent through various specifications, parametric and nonparametric, with different outcome measures and social network definitions, and across many subsamples. We find evidence to support the hypothesis that firms benefit more when connected politicians remain in state politics than when they move to federal office. Overall, our study identifies the value of political connections through social networks and uncovers its variation across different states and between state and federal political environments.Social network; political connection; close election; regression discontinuity design; firm value.

Perceived social support networks and prosocial outcomes among Latino/a youth in the United States

This study examines Latino/a adolescents’ perceived sources and types of social support, and links between social support and prosocial tendencies. Latino/a adolescents (N=126) in Midwestern United States participated in the study. Respondents of higher generational status reported broader social support networks and a higher amount of overall social support compared to peers of lower generational status. Youth perceived the highest amount of social support from immediate family, followed by extended family, and lastly from non-kin individuals. Path analysis indicated that overall social support was directly and positively associated with altruistic prosocial tendencies, and directly and negatively associated with public prosocial tendencies. Social support was indirectly related to altruistic, public, dire and emotional prosocial tendencies variably mediated by empathy, perspective taking and self-efficacy. La percepción de las redes de apoyo social y resultados prosociales entre Latino / a jóvenes en los Estados Unidos de América: Resumen: Este estudio examin los fuentes y tipos de apollo social entre adolescentes Latinos/Latinas en los Estados Unidos, y la relación entre apollo social y tendencias prosociales. Los adolescentes Latinos (N=126) participaron en el estudio. Los encuestados de un estado generacional más alto reportaron redes de apollo social que eran más extensos y más apollo social en general que sus compañeros de un estado generacional más bajo. Adolescentes percibieron lo más apollo social de la familia inmediata, seguido por la familia extendida, y por ultimo de las personas en no eran de la familia. Un análisis de ruto demostró que apollo social en general se asoció directamente y positivamente con las tendencias altruistas de conductas prosociales, y se asoció directamente y negativamente con tendencias prosociales en pública. Apollo social se asoció indirectamente con tendencias prosociales de altruismo, pública, tendencias horrendas, y emoción y son mediados por empatía, toma de perspectiva, y auto-eficacia