Jenny C. Aker
Tufts University and CGD
Paul Collier
University of Oxford and CEPR
Pedro C. Vicente
Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA and BREAD
ISSN 2183-0843
Working Paper No 1304
September 2013
Abstract
African elections often reveal low levels of political accountability. We assess different forms of voter education during an election im Mozambique. Three interventions to providing information to voters and calling for their electoral participation were randomized: an SMS – based information campaingn, an SMS hotline for electoral misconduct, and the distribution of a free newspaper. To mesure impact, we look at official electoral results, reports by electoral observers, behavioral and survey data. We find positive effects of all treatments on voter turnout. We observe that the distribution of the newspaper led to more accountability-based participation and to a decrease in an electoral problems.
This paper was published in the Review of Economics and Statistics in May 2017, Volume 99(2), Pages 185-200. You can find the published version of the paper here.
