Data and policy decisions: Experimental evidence from Pakistan

We evaluate a program in Pakistan that equips government health inspectors with a smartphone app which channels data on rural clinics to senior policy makers. The system led to rural clinics being inspected 104% more often after 6 months, but only 43.8% more often after a year, with the latter estimate not attaining significance at conventional levels. There is also no clear evidence that the increase in inspections led to increases in general staff attendance. In addition, we test whether senior officials act on the information provided by the system. Focusing only on districts where the app is deployed, we find that highlighting poorly performing facilities on a dashboard viewed by supervisors raises doctor attendance by 75%. Our results indicate that technology may be able to mobilize data to useful effect, even in low capacity settings. •Channeling data to policy makers can improve service delivery, even in low capacity states.•Smartphones can be integrated into health infrastructures to allow geographically diffuse data to be rapidly aggregated.•Such systems can be used to improve incentives for performance for government inspectors, at least in the short term.