ABSTRACT
Figure 3.1 in Chapter 3 has already shown that government spending on social assistance as a share of the total government expenditures experienced a drastic change around 1997, indicating a strong impetus for the government to take financial responsibility to protect the poor. In this chapter, the primary focus is on the process of this change. The analysis of the process will help us understand the following questions raised earlier in the book. First, what motivates the government to assist the poor without any political change that would otherwise alter the distribution of power in favor of the previously marginalized social groups? Second, given the entrenched urban-rural divide, what gives the government incentives to extend the benefits to the rural areas? Last, what motivates the government to institutionalize a program that seemingly is odd to the authoritarian nature of the regime?
