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No bulls: Experimental evidence on the impact of veterinarian ratings in Pakistan

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  • Hasanain, Syed Ali
  • Khan, Muhammad Yasir
  • Rezaee, Arman

Abstract

We implement a platform to crowdsource information about service provision quality and prices charged and reveal this information to consumers in a market – artificial insemination of livestock in Punjab, Pakistan – where individual signals of quality are noisy. We measure the impact of this information revelation using a randomized controlled trial. Farmers receiving information enjoy 25% higher insemination success and no higher prices than controls. These effects are due to existing veterinarians increasing effort, rather than farmers switching to possibly higher-quality providers. These results illustrate the viability of information clearinghouses successfully aggregating information in low-capacity markets. They also suggest the importance of doing so by implying large welfare benefits from our low-cost information intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Hasanain, Syed Ali & Khan, Muhammad Yasir & Rezaee, Arman, 2023. "No bulls: Experimental evidence on the impact of veterinarian ratings in Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:161:y:2023:i:c:s0304387822001419
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102999
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