Skill Versus Voice in Local Development

Katherine Casey, Rachel Glennerster, Edward Miguel and Maarten Voors

Department of Economics, Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley

Abstract: —Where the state is weak, traditional authorities control the local provision of public goods. These leaders come from an older, less educated generation and often rule in an authoritarian and exclusionary fashion. This means the skills of community members may not be leveraged in policymaking. We experimentally evaluate two solutions to this problem in Sierra Leone: one encourages delegation to higher-skill individuals, and a second fosters broader inclusion in decision making. In a real-world infrastructure grants competition, a public nudge to delegate led to better outcomes than the default of chiefly control, whereas attempts to boost participation were largely ineffective.

Keywords: Applied Economics; Econometrics; Commerce; Management; Tourism and Services; Economics; Banking; Finance and Investment; Emerging Infectious Diseases; Banking; finance and investment; Applied economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-03-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Skill versus Voice in Local Development (2021)
Working Paper: Skill versus Voice in Local Development (2019)
Working Paper: Skill Versus Voice in Local Development (2018)
Working Paper: Skill versus Voice in Local Development (2018)
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