TY - JOUR
T1 - Data and policy decisions
T2 - Experimental evidence from Pakistan
AU - Callen, Michael
AU - Gulzar, Saad
AU - Hasanain, Ali
AU - Khan, Muhammad Yasir
AU - Rezaee, Arman
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Absenteeism
KW - Bureaucracies
KW - Data-informed policy
KW - Health
KW - Information communication technology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088795973&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85088795973&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102523
DO - 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102523
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85088795973
SN - 0304-3878
VL - 146
JO - Journal of Development Economics
JF - Journal of Development Economics
M1 - 102523
ER -