Data and policy decisions: Experimental evidence from Pakistan

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Callen, Michael; Gulzar, Saad; Hasanain, Ali; Khan, Muhammad Yasir; Rezaee, Arman
• 署名单位: University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; National Bureau of Economic Research; Stanford University; Lahore University of Management Sciences; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Davis
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102523
• 发表日期: 2020
• 关键词: Absenteeism; bureaucracies; Data-informed policy; Information Communication Technology; HEALTH

摘要

We evaluate a program in Pakistan that equips government health inspectors with a smartphone app which channels data on rural clinics to senior policy makers. The system led to rural clinics being inspected 104% more often after 6 months, but only 43.8% more often after a year, with the latter estimate not attaining significance at conventional levels. There is also no clear evidence that the increase in inspections led to increases in general staff attendance. In addition, we test whether senior officials act on the information provided by the system. Focusing only on districts where the app is deployed, we find that highlighting poorly performing facilities on a dashboard viewed by supervisors raises doctor attendance by 75%. Our results indicate that technology may be able to mobilize data to useful effect, even in low capacity settings.