What do brokers provide for urban slums?

Shami, Mahvish (2024) What do brokers provide for urban slums? Journal of International Development. ISSN 0954-1748

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Abstract

Rapid urbanisation in developing countries has often resulted in slums with minimal public goods provision, where the poor rely on clientelist networks to provide for their basic needs. Using household-level data, this paper is the first to empirically document how political clientelism operates in Pakistani slums. It finds that urban brokers, unlike their rural counterparts, are unable to claim credit for public goods provision. Instead, they provide personalised and highly targeted services – such as dispute resolution and assistance with documentation. Moreover, unlike traditional clientelism, urban networks are found to be problem-solving and welfare-enhancing for slum dwellers.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10991328
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author
Divisions:	International Development
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory J Political Science H Social Sciences
Date Deposited:	19 Mar 2024 11:27
Last Modified:	01 May 2024 15:06
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/122419

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