Work in progress

Legal Antecedents of Fiscal Capacity:
Experimental Evidence from Congo

Abstract

This project studies a low-capacity state, the D.R. Congo, seeking to establish legal capacity and how its efforts to do so shape citizens' demand for the state. We examine the randomized rollout of a legal capacity-building program implemented at scale in the city of Kananga by the Provincial Ministry of Justice. Local property disputes are randomly assigned to receive free arbitration offered by state-licensed lawyers. We study how this legal capacity program shapes property rights security, social cohesion and trust, and citizens' willingness to fund the formal state through taxes. An information treatment helps shed light on mechanisms.