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Title: Data and policy decisions: Experimental evidence from Pakistan

Author(s): Michael Callen

Publication Date: August 2020

Keyword(s): Bureaucracies, Data-informed policy, health and Information Communication Technology

Programme Area(s): Development Economics

Abstract: 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.

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Bibliographic Reference

Callen, M. 2020. 'Data and policy decisions: Experimental evidence from Pakistan'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15169