Research

My areas of research interest include economic development, political economy of development and state fragility, state capacity, and social protection. My work often involves setting up long term collaborations with policy actors to study real-world questions through field experiments conducted at scale.

Publications

Government Analytics Using Administrative Case Data (with Michael Best, Columbia, and Alessandra Fenizia, George Washington University), The Government Analytics Handbook: Leveraging Data to Strengthen Public Administration. World Bank. 2023.

Bureaucracy and Development (with Timothy Besley, LSE, Robin Burgess, LSE, and Guo Xu, Berkeley). Annual Review of Economics. 2022. NBER Working Paper. 2021.

The Allocation of Authority in Organizations: A Field Experiment with Bureaucrats (with Oriana Bandiera, LSE, Andrea Prat, Columbia, and Michael Best, Columbia). Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2021.

Building Trust in the State with Information: Evidence from Urban Punjab (with Andreas Stegmann, Warwick, Mahvish Shaukat, World Bank, and Sanval Nasim, LUMS). Journal of Public Economics. 2021.

Preparing for Crises: Lessons from Covid-19. (with Jishnu Das, Georgetown, Asim Khwaja, Harvard, and Anum Malkani, CERP) LSE Public Policy Review. 2021.

Making Moves Matter: Experimental Evidence on Incentivizing Bureaucrats through Performance-Based Postings (with Benjamin Olken, MIT, and Asim Khwaja, Harvard). American Economic Review. 2019.

Tax Farming Redux: Experimental Evidence on Incentive Pay for Tax Collectors (with Benjamin Olken, MIT, and Asim Khwaja, Harvard) Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2016.

Breaking the countercylical pattern of local democracy in Pakistan (with Ali Cheema, LUMS, and Roger Myerson, Chicago) for Jean-Paul Faguet adnd Caroline Pöschl’s ‘Is Decentralization Good for Development: Perspectives from Academics and Policy Makers’, Oxford University Press, 2013. Univ of Chicago Manuscript.

The Impact of Social Networks on Labour Market Outcomes: New Evidence from Cape Breton (with Steven Lehrer, Queen’s) NBER Working Paper, Canadian Public Policy 2013. NBER Working Paper

Capacity Development for Education Service Delivery in Pakistan: Top Down Devolution (with David Watson) in Public Administration and Development 2010.

Decentralization in Pakistan: Context, Content and Causes (with Asim Khwaja, Harvard and Ali Cheema, LUMS), for Pranab Bardhan and Dilip Mookherjee’s ‘Decentralization and Local Governance in Developing Countries, MIT Press, USA 2006.

Working Papers and Current Projects

Big Push Pro-Poor Policies and Economic Attitudes: Evidence from a Partial Population Experiment (with Nicolas Cerkez, UCL, Imran Rasul, UCL, and Anam Shoaib, CERP). 2023.

Policy Decisions and Evidence Use among Civil Servants: A Group Decision Experiment in Pakistan Evidence Use (with Laura Metzger, HKS, Theodore Svoronos, HKS). CID, STICERD Working Paper.

Political Connections and Vote Choice: Evidence from Pakistan (with Jake Shapiro, Princeton, Michael Callen, LSE, Asad Liaqat, Facebook, Ali Cheema, LUMS, and Farooq Naseer, LUMS).

The Design of Social Protection Programs for the Ultra-Poor: Asset Transfers versus Unconditional Cash Transfers (with Robin Burgess, LSE, Oriana Bandiera, LSE, Imran Rasul, UCL).

Rebuilding the Social Compact: Urban Service Delivery and Property Taxes in Pakistan (with Benjamin Olken, MIT, Asim Khwaja, Harvard, and Mahvish Shaukat, World Bank).

Effect of Capacity in Delivery of Urban Services (with Gharad Bryan, LSE, Gerard Padro i Miquel, Yale, Asad Liaqat, Facebook, and Ali Cheema, LUMS).

Preferences and Performance among Bureaucrats: Evidence from Pakistan’s Civil Service (with Gabriel Tourek, Pittsburgh, and Zahra Mansoor, Bristol). 2023.

Understanding and Mitigating Excessive Risk-Taking in Bureaucracies: The Role of Pro-Social Motivation (with Sheheryar Banuri, Cambridge, and Zahra Mansoor, Bristol). 2023.

Judicial Access and Development: Evidence from Pakistan (with Daniel Chen, Toulouse, and Sultan Mehmood, New Economic School).

Graduating out of Poverty: Testing the impact of Cash Transfers vs. Lump-sum Grants (with Benjamin Olken, MIT, and Rema Hanna, HKS).

Transforming the Public Sector by Improving Bureaucratic Performance: Mission Match and Slack in Bangladesh (with Timothy Besley, LSE, and Dan Honig, John Hopkins)

Institutional Reforms in Policing: Accountability, Organisational Culture and Social Norms (with Daron Acemoglu, MIT, Claudio Ferraz, UBC, and Zahra Mansoor, Oxford)

Strengthening State Capacity and Enhancing Bureaucratic Effectiveness (with Zahra Mansoor, Oxford).

Precision versus Proximity: Evidence from Survey Experiments with Civil Servants in India and Pakistan (with Michael Callen, LSE, Asim Khwaja, Harvard, and Asad Liaqat, Facebook).

Evaluating the Take-up, Usage, and Impact of Mobile Money Accounts (with Greg Fischer, LSE, Joshua Blumenstock, Berkeley).

Effect of Employment on Volunteering and Health Outcomes: Evidence from a Community Employment Project in Canada (with Steven Lehrer, Queens).

Identifying the Impact of Decentralization: Evidence from Pakistan (with Ali Cheema, LUMS, and Asim Khwaja, Harvard).