This study investigates how social fractionalization influences politicians' incentives to provide public goods, rather than focusing on community-level factors. The argument is that fragmented social networks, evidenced by intermarriage patterns among 20 million individuals across 15,000 Philippine villages, reduce the risk of elite capture and increase both public goods provision and electoral competition.

### Data & Methods

Using large-scale network data from the Philippines, researchers analyzed family connections through community detection algorithms to identify clan structures. This approach allowed them to measure social fragmentation by assessing intermarriage patterns between families in each village.

### Key Findings

Our analysis demonstrates that villages with more fragmented social networks exhibit significantly higher levels of public goods provision and increased political competition. These results hold true even after accounting for numerous village characteristics, including geography, resources, and economic factors.

### Why It Matters

This finding offers important insights into the role of social structures in governance outcomes in developing democracies. Counterintuitively, less cohesive family networks may actually enhance accountability mechanisms among political elites.