Webinar: Using information and technology to improve efficacy of welfare programs: Evidence from a field experiment in India with Dr Upasak Das
| Dates: | 25 June 2020 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 15:00 |
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| What is it: | Webinar |
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| Organiser: | Global Development Institute |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public, Post 16 |
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This talk is based on a paper by Upasak Das (Global Development Institute, University of Manchester), Amartya Paul (Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum), Mohit Sharma (Collaborative Research and Dissemination, New Delhi)
Does information dissemination among beneficiaries of welfare programs mitigate implementation failures that undermine these programs?
We present experimental evidence on this question in the context of the rural public works program in India. A novel intervention that involves accessing micro level online administrative information of the program and disseminating it to the beneficiaries was implemented in parts of the state of Telangana. Using administrative data for close to 29,000 households along with baseline and endline survey, we evaluate the impact of this intervention on uptake of work and last mile payment delay. We also look at the impact on intermediate outcomes including those on awareness of the provisions and process mechanisms. The design of the intervention ensured us to examine the effect of spillovers on uptake and the intermediate outcomes.
The findings indicate a positive and significant impact on reduction in last mile payment delays and intermediate outcomes too but no significant effect was found on uptake. However we observed a considerable increase in uptake in the next period possible indicating evidence of an “encouragement” effect. Notably, higher impact of payment delay was found for deprived communities as well. The findings stresses on personalized information campaigns being more effective than comparison to the generalized ones and also lays platform for an innovative information campaign to be used by government and civil society organizations as transparency measures.
Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcudOutqjIuHd1LblBrzuVetJI23TNk9LRP
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