Improving Last-Mile Service Delivery using Phone-Based Monitoring Impact Evaluation 2018

India, 2018

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Reference ID

IND_2018_ILMSDPBM-IE_v01_M

DOI

https://doi.org/10.48529/9y19-2y60

Producer(s)

Jeffrey Weaver, Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus, Sandip Sukhtankar

Collection(s)

The Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) Impact Evaluation Surveys

Metadata

Documentation in PDF DDI/XML JSON

Created on

Sep 02, 2025

Last modified

Sep 02, 2025

Page views

3208

Downloads

143

Identification

Survey ID number

IND_2018_ILMSDPBM-IE_v01_M

Title

Improving Last-Mile Service Delivery using Phone-Based Monitoring Impact Evaluation 2018

Country/Economy

Name	Country code
India	IND

Study type

Administrative Records, Other (ad/oth]

Abstract

Improving "last-mile" public-service delivery is a recurring challenge in developing countries. Could the widespread adoption of mobile phones provide a scalable, cost-effective means for improvement? We use a large-scale experiment to evaluate the impact of phone-based monitoring on a program that transferred nearly a billion dollars to 5.7 million Indian farmers. In randomly-selected jurisdictions, officials were informed that program implementation would be measured via calls with beneficiaries. This led to a 7.8% reduction in the number of farmers who did not receive their transfers. The program was highly cost-effective, costing 3.6 cents for each additional dollar delivered.

Kind of Data

Administrative records data [adm]

Unit of Analysis

District, mandal, MAO, plot

Version

Version Description

v01: Edited, anonymized datasets for public distribution

Version Date

2025-06-24T04:00:00.000Z

Scope

Notes

This study covers topics related to state capacity, service delivery, and mobile phones.

Keywords

State Capacity Service Delivery Mobile Phones India

Coverage

Geographic Coverage

Telangana, India

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators

Name	Affiliation
Jeffrey Weaver	University of Southern California
Karthik Muralidharan	UC San Diego, J-PAL, NBER, and BREAD
Paul Niehaus	UC San Diego, J-PAL, NBER, and BREAD
Sandip Sukhtankar	University of Virginia, J-PAL, and BREAD

Funding Agency/Sponsor

Name	Abbreviation
Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund	SIEF

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

Details on sampling and experimental design can be found on the AEA RCT Registry located here: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2942

Survey instrument

Questionnaires

All variable names and descriptions are included in the "readme.pdf" file, which is available to download.

Notes on the readme file:

For labels and descriptions of the variables in the BalanceTests4.dta dataset, refer to BalanceTests3.dta in the readme file. The variables appear there.
The rand and mandal_id variables in the miscdata.dta dataset and the dist_id, dist_mandal_uid_MC, and village_uid_MC variables in the mcdata.dta dataset are generated ID variables.

Methodology notes

Replication files are available to download.

Data collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End	Cycle
2018-05-08	2018-09-26	All

Data Collection Notes

Details on data collection can be found on the AEA RCT Registry located here: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2942

The following publication, available to download, is supplemented by the data in this project:
Muralidharan, Karthik, Paul Niehaus, Sandip Sukhtankar, and Jeffrey Weaver. “Improving Last-Mile Service Delivery Using Phone-Based Monitoring.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 13, no. 2 (April 2021): 52–82. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20190783.

Access policy

Location of Data Collection

World Bank Microdata Library

Depositor information

Depositor

Name	Affiliation
Meyhar Mohammed LNU	The World Bank

Date of Deposit

2024-01-25T05:00:00.000Z

Data Access

Access authority

Name	Affiliation	URL	Email
Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund	The World Bank	https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/sief-trust-fund	siefimpact@worldbank.org

Confidentiality

Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required?
true

Access conditions

Public Access

Citation requirements

Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
•the identification of the Primary Investigator
•the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
•the survey reference number
•the source and date of download

Example:
Jeffrey Weaver (University of Southern California), Karthik Muralidharan (UC San Diego, J-PAL, NBER, and BREAD), Paul Niehaus (UC San Diego, J-PAL, NBER, and BREAD) and Sandip Sukhtankar (University of Virginia, J-PAL, and BREAD). India - Improving Last-Mile Service Delivery using Phone-Based Monitoring Impact Evaluation 2018. Ref: IND_2018_ILMSDPBM-IE_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from [URL] on [date].

Disclaimer and copyrights

Disclaimer

The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.

Contacts

Name	Affiliation	Email	URL
Karthik Muralidharan	UC San Diego, J-PAL, NBER, and BREAD
Paul Niehaus	UC San Diego, J-PAL, NBER, and BREAD
Sandip Sukhtankar	University of Virginia, J-PAL, and BREAD
Jeffrey Weaver	University of Southern California
Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund	The World Bank	siefimpact@worldbank.org	https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/sief-trust-fund

Metadata production

DDI Document ID

DDI_IND_2018_ILMSDPBM-IE_v01_M_WB

Producers

Name	Abbreviation	Affiliation	Role
Development Economics Data Group	DECDG	The World Bank	Documentation of the study

Date of Metadata Production

2025-06-24T04:00:00.000Z

Metadata version

DDI Document version

Version 01 (June 2025)

Version date

2025-06-24T04:00:00.000Z

Citation

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