Strengthening Fragile States: Evidence from Mobile Salary Payments in Afghanistan

Joshua Blumenstock, Michael Callen, Anastasiia Faikina, Stefano Fiorin and Tarek Ghani

No 18254, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Building state capacity is uniquely challenging in fragile states. We report results from a randomized evaluation of a major Afghan government initiative to increase capacity by modernizing its payroll. The reform, which required teachers to biometrically register and receive salary payments via mobile money, did little to reduce payments to non-existent 'ghost" workers, but significantly reduced delays. The reform also improved educational outcomes and increased formal financial inclusion. The impacts were not immediate - highlighting the importance of long time-horizons - and were largest in urban areas. The results have implications for state-building and are potentially actionable for policymakers.

Date: 2023-06
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP18254 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: Strengthening Fragile States: Evidence from Mobile Salary Payments in Afghanistan (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:18254

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP18254

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().