When governments control large portions of national income, citizens benefit from economic wealth only if governments provide public goods effectively. More importantly, the wealthier-is-healthier hypothesis requires “a thoroughgoing redistribution of income and wealth is key to improving population health” (Deaton, 2002, p. In the longer run, however, increases in overall income should lead to increases in health-improving public expenditures (Pritchett & Summers, 1996). Societies that embrace aggressive development earn more but put community health at risk. That finding suggests that per capita payments create a pro-economy constituency and implies that the decision to pay dividends directly to citizens affects the sizes of revenues from state-owned enterprises, such as tribal-government-owned casinos, rather than merely determining how they are distributed.ĭevelopment economists studying the “health–wealth gradient” have tried to understand the extent to which income-generating industrial development within a community must come at the expense of health, safety, and environmental quality (see Deaton, 2002).

After controlling for casino size at the onset of COVID-19, as well as demographic, economic, and geographic characteristics of the reservations on which the casinos operate, we find that casinos governed by per capita payments remained open about 17–29% longer than other reservation-based casinos. Relying on per capita payment data and administrative information on the operational status of over 200 tribal casinos, we investigate how the distribution of per capita payments relates to the number of days casinos were closed from February 2020 through February 2022. Does the use of per capita payments affect how governments trade off pro-economy policies with other constituent interests such as environmental quality and public health? We study that question in the context of tribal government decisions to close or keep open casinos on American Indian reservations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some governments distribute profits from state-owned enterprises to citizens on a per capita basis while others do not.

List of native american casinos