Strengthening Fragile States: Evidence from Mobile Salary Payments in Afghanistan Joshua E. Blumenstock, Michael Callen, Anastasiia Faikina, Stefano Fiorin, and Tarek Ghani 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, […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 593, July 2021
Machine Learning and Mobile Phone Data Can Improve the Targeting of Humanitarian Assistance Emily Aiken, Suzanne Bellue, Dean Karlan, Chris Udry, Joshua Blumenstock Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), causing widespread food insecurity and a sharp decline in living standards. In response to this crisis, governments and humanitarian organizations […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 516, June 2017
Digital Credit: A Snapshot of the Current Landscape and Open Research Questions Eilin Francis, Joshua Blumenstock, Jonathan Robinson Download paper in PDF format
BREAD Working Paper No. 518, July 2017
Why Do Defaults Affect Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan Joshua Blumenstock, Michael Callen, Tarek Ghani Abstract We report on an experiment examining why default options impact behavior. Working with one of the largest private firms in Afghanistan, we randomly assigned each of 949 employees to different variants of a new default savings account. Employees assigned […]