Pallavi Prabhakar

Bottom up accountability? Information, Expectations and Civic Action in India (Job Market Paper) 

with Diwakar Kishore  (The Norwegian Association for Economists' prize for best paper by a PhD) 

Abstract: Despite years of transparency reforms, their impact on civic participation is not well understood. We study whether government performance information from one of the largest transparency initiatives can motivate citizens to participate and whether changes in beliefs are the mechanisms driving this effect. The initiative tracks 112 of India’s 806 most underperforming districts across key development indicators and posts performance information online for public accountability. We conducted a randomized field experiment with 2,107 adults in a district targeted by the initiative. Over 90% in our setting were unaware of the initiative, and 75% overestimated their district’s performance. Our low-cost, scalable video intervention informed citizens that their district was included, revealed its declining performance relative to neighboring districts, and listed formal grievance channels. Citizens randomly assigned to watch the video were 5 pp more likely to sign the petitions and 8.4 pp more likely to attend workshops on complaint filing portals. They updated beliefs about their district’s low rank and became more aware of the initiative. Citizens who initially overestimated their district’s rank updated their beliefs and increased participation, while we observed no effects among those who had not overestimated prior to treatment. Beliefs about citizens’ influence over service delivery remained unchanged. One month later, beliefs about the district’s rank converged, yet citizens in the intervention group continued to meet civic officials and file complaints. Those who initially overestimated their district’s rank remained significantly more likely to participate. To explain why citizens continue participating despite low perceived influence, we develop a model where participation depends on expected performance gaps relative to aspirational service levels and perceived influence over government. Larger perceived gaps alone can sustain participation through an accountability channel. These findings have implications for 250 million Indians in most-underperforming districts and highlight how prior beliefs mediate effectiveness of transparency programs.

Family and Childhood Development: Kizazi Kijacho/The Next Generation

Summary: Parenting interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) often rely on intensive training and close supervision of Community Health Workers (CHWs), making them challenging to scale. At the same time, cash transfers can ease financial constraints but may not be sufficient to shift parenting behaviours on their own. It remains unclear how to cost-effectively combine these approaches to support holistic child development.  We conducted a large-scale Randomized Controlled Trial in Dodoma, Tanzania, to evaluate the relative effectiveness of three Early Childhood Development (ECD) intervention packages delivered during the child’s first 1,000 days—from conception to age two. The interventions included: (i) a parenting program delivered by CHWs supported by a digital app; (ii) an unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program; and (iii) a combination of both. This study addresses that gap by testing the individual and joint impacts of parenting support and cash transfers, helping identify scalable solutions for early childhood development in resource-limited settings.

Targeting meets constraints: Cash transfers, digital access and women empowerment

Summary: In a randomized cash transfer program in rural Tanzania, mothers assigned as recipients could receive funds via mobile money or nominate another person to receive the transfer on their behalf. We show that women with limited digital access are substantially more likely to nominate, and thus less likely to directly receive the transfers intended for them. Among those who nominate, women with lower autonomy in the household, are more likely to nominate their spouse. Because intermediaries can either return the cash or gain control over how to spend it, these nomination patterns can shift effective control away from the targeted women. Thus, the women most in need of empowerment, may be the least likely to receive and benefit from the transfers. These findings highlight a key challenge for targeted transfer policies: without addressing underlying digital and intra-household constraints, programs may fail to reach and empower the intended beneficiaries.

Transforming governance: Accountability, information, and inclusive growth in India's districts

Summary: Public service delivery in low- and middle-income countries is often constrained by weak state capacity and limited accountability. We evaluate India's Aspirational Districts Programme—one of the world's largest policy-monitoring initiatives—which publicly tracks and posts performance data for 112 most underperforming districts to accelerate development. Leveraging administrative data from 6000 Right to Information Requests, national health and education surveys and satellite data, we estimate the program's impact on public service delivery, public financial management, and bureaucratic transfers. Our findings will reveal whether transparency through improved information systems can enhance governance outcomes and close persistent development gaps across poorest regions.