HPS³ - Macartan Humphreys - Effects of Economic and Social Incentives on Bureaucratic Quality

This event takes place in English.

The Hamburg Political Science Seminar Series (HPS³) features international speakers presenting cutting-edge research in empirical political science and political economy.

We welcome on 

15 January 2025,  17:15-18:45 CET in VMP9 B 130

Macartan Humphreys (WZB Berlin)
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Title: Effects of Economic and Social Incentives on Bureaucratic Quality: Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone

Abstract: Using a field experiment implemented in Sierra Leone with community-level service providers, we examine the individual and joint effects of selection, local monitoring, and incentivized payment mechanisms. We find evidence consistent with past literature that social pressure improves quality of service provision. These gains, however, are no better than gains from simple direct payment mechanisms with lower social costs. We find no effects of varying selection mechanisms. Analysis of a structural model identifies conditions under which selection and social or economic incentives are more or less likely to be effective and help make sense of our design-based findings. Our model-based analysis suggests that the null result on selection is because of high social embededness even for candidates not selected by communities and a low correlation between embeddedness and intrinsic motivation. Social sanctions would increase performance of workers with higher social sensitivity, whereas financial incentive scheme are particularly effective when workers are more embedded in the communities they serve. JEL Codes: I15, I18, J33, M52, O15, O55.

The HPS³ seminars take place in person at the UHH. Please find the seminar program on the HPS³ Website

We invite everyone interested to attend the HPS³ Seminar Series and are looking forward to seeing you.