Working Paper
Can information campaigns reduce last mile payment delays in public works programme?

Does information dissemination among beneficiaries of welfare programmes mitigate their implementation failures?

We present experimental evidence in the context of a rural public works programme in India, where we assess the impact of an intervention that involves dissemination of publicly available micro-level data on last mile delays in payment and programme uptake, along with a set of intermediate outcomes.

The findings point to a substantial reduction in last mile payment delays along with improvements in awareness of basic provisions of the programme and process mechanisms while indicating a limited effect on uptake.

However, we find a considerable increase in uptake in the subsequent period, which is potentially indicative of an ‘encouragement’ effect through the reduction in last mile delays. A comparatively higher impact on payment delay was found for deprived communities.

The findings lay a platform for an innovative information campaign that can be used by government and civil society organizations as part of transparency measures to improve efficiency.