E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Clément Imbert, Santhosh Mathew and Rohini Pande
Additional contact information
Esther Duflo: MIT
Santhosh Mathew: Bill and Melida Gates Foundation
Rohini Pande: Harvard University

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: Can e-governance reforms improve government policy? By making information available on a realtime basis, information technologies may reduce the theft of public funds. We analyze a large field experiment and the nationwide scale-up of a reform to India's workfare program. Advance payments were replaced by "just-in-time" payments, triggered by e-invoicing, making it easier to detect misreporting. Leakages went down : program expenditures dropped by 24%, while employment slightly increased ; there were fewer fake households in the official database ; program officials personal wealth fell by 10%. However, payment delays increased. The nationwide scale-up resulted in a persistent 19% reduction in program expenditure.

Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-exp and nep-ict
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India (2020)
Working Paper: E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India (2017)
Working Paper: E-Governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India (2016)
Working Paper: E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India (2016)
Working Paper: E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India (2016)
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