IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17365.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Missing the Target: Does Increased Capacity of the Local Government Improve Beneficiary Selection?

Author

Listed:
  • Asri, Viola

    (Chr. Michelsen Institute)

  • Biswas, Kumar

    (University of Chicago)

  • Fehrler, Sebastian

    (University of Bremen)

  • Fischbacher, Urs

    (University of Konstanz)

  • Michaelowa, Katharina

    (University of Zurich)

  • Rabbani, Atonu

    (University of Dhaka)

Abstract

The implementation of social policies is often hampered by the fact that local decision-makers may be unwilling or unable to implement the policy as intended by the central government. In contrast to research that focuses on incentivizing and holding local decision makers accountable, we examine capacity constraints in the context of beneficiary selection. Using a large-scale randomized trial in Bangladesh, we find that training and data provision improved knowledge of selection criteria. However, evidence of better targeting was limited, except for easily observable indicators of vulnerability. Improvements in targeting were more pronounced in committees led by highly educated chairpersons.

Suggested Citation

  • Asri, Viola & Biswas, Kumar & Fehrler, Sebastian & Fischbacher, Urs & Michaelowa, Katharina & Rabbani, Atonu, 2024. "Missing the Target: Does Increased Capacity of the Local Government Improve Beneficiary Selection?," IZA Discussion Papers 17365, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17365
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17365.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2006. "Addressing Absence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 117-132, Winter.
    2. Ashraf, Nava & Bandiera, Oriana & Lee, Scott S., 2014. "Awards unbundled: Evidence from a natural field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 44-63.
    3. Ashraf, Nava & Bandiera, Oriana & Jack, B. Kelsey, 2014. "No margin, no mission? A field experiment on incentives for public service delivery," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-17.
    4. Ritva Reinikka & Jakob Svensson, 2004. "Local Capture: Evidence from a Central Government Transfer Program in Uganda," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(2), pages 679-705.
    5. Abhijit Banerjee & Rema Hanna & Jordan Kyle & Benjamin A. Olken & Sudarno Sumarto, 2018. "Tangible Information and Citizen Empowerment: Identification Cards and Food Subsidy Programs in Indonesia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(2), pages 451-491.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arimoto, Yutaka & 有本, 寛 & Kurata, Masamitsu, 2017. "Adoption of Management Practices in the Public Sector of Bangladesh," Discussion Paper Series 654, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Greer K. Gosnell & John A. List & Robert Metcalfe, 2016. "A New Approach to an Age-Old Problem: Solving Externalities by Incenting Workers Directly," NBER Working Papers 22316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Clément Imbert & Santhosh Mathew & Rohini Pande, 2020. "E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 39-72, October.
    4. Christiane Bradler & Robert Dur & Susanne Neckermann & Arjan Non, 2013. "Employee Recognition and Performance: A Field Experiment," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-038/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Md. Rajibul Alam & Yoko Kijima, 2024. "Incentives to Improve Government Agricultural Extension Agent Performance: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(3), pages 1295-1316.
    6. Olivia Bertelli & Fatou Fall, 2024. "Reaching out to socially distant trainees: experimental evidence from variations on the standard farmer trainer system," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 51(2), pages 533-588.
    7. Lisa Callagher & Peter Smith, 2017. "Innovation Awards: Reward, Recognition, And Ritual," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(05), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Arora, Puneet & Musaddiq, Tareena, 2023. "Can rank-based non-monetary rewards improve student attendance? Experimental evidence from India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    9. Yan-Leung Cheung & P. Raghavendra Rau & Aris Stouraitis, 2021. "What Determines the Return to Bribery? Evidence from Corruption Cases Worldwide," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6235-6265, October.
    10. Fracchia, Mattia & Molina-Millán, Teresa & Vicente, Pedro C., 2023. "Motivating volunteer health workers in an African capital city," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    11. Hollard, Guillaume & Sene, Omar, 2020. "What drives the quality of schools in Africa? Disentangling social capital and ethnic divisions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    12. Michael Callen & Saad Gulzar & Ali Hasanain & Muhammad Yasir Khan & Arman Rezaee, 2015. "Personalities and Public Sector Performance: Evidence from a Health Experiment in Pakistan," NBER Working Papers 21180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Callen, Michael & Gulzar, Saad & Hasanain, Ali & Khan, Muhammad Yasir & Rezaee, Arman, 2020. "Data and policy decisions: Experimental evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    14. Elizabeth Beasley & Elise Huillery, 2011. "Understanding Community Participation to Make Services Work," Working Papers hal-01073687, HAL.
    15. Boas, Taylor C. & Hidalgo, F. Daniel, 2019. "Electoral incentives to combat mosquito-borne illnesses: Experimental evidence from Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 89-99.
    16. Tohari, Achmad & Parsons, Christopher & Rammohan, Anu, 2021. "Literacy and Information," IZA Discussion Papers 14358, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Kosec, Katrina & Wantchekon, Leonard, 2020. "Can information improve rural governance and service delivery?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    18. Bertelli, Olivia & Fall, Fatou, 2022. "Motivating Farmer Trainers. Experimental evidence from rural Uganda," 96th Annual Conference, April 4-6, 2022, K U Leuven, Belgium 321175, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    19. Raja Kali & David Pastoriza & Jean‐François Plante, 2018. "The burden of glory: Competing for nonmonetary incentives in rank‐order tournaments," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 102-118, March.
    20. Jeong, Dahyeon & Shenoy, Ajay & Zimmermann, Laura V., 2023. "De Jure versus De Facto transparency: Corruption in local public office in India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social policy; targeting; local governance; behavior; RCT; Bangladesh;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17365. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.