Ethnic Diversity, Concentration of Political Power and the Curse of Natural Resources-(Waqar Wadho) Economia Politica, 1-25
The Role of Bundling In Promoting Sustainability of Health Insurance: Evidence From Pakistan- (with Hamna Ahmad) Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, Volume 44-5. (2019)
Diversification on Small Farms: An Empirical Investigation of Panel Data for 2001–10 -(with Farah Said) The Lahore Journal of Economics, Special Edition, September 2017, pp.233-249
Student Experiences and Outcomes during COVID-19; Insights for TCF: Policy Brief (with Ijaz Bajwa, Hamna Ahmad and Kate Vyborny)
Utilization of Health Microinsurance in Punjab: Insights from administrative data- (with Hamna Ahmad)- CREB policy paper No.02-19
Utilization of Health Microinsurance: Evidence from Focus Group Discussions – (with Muhammad Ahmad Nazif and Hamna Ahmad)- CREB policy paper No.01-19
Leveraging technology to promote women's health : Evidence from a pilot program- GLO Discussion Paper, No. 939
We investigate the causal impact of offering telehealth services to female microfinance borrowers on their health and bargaining power in the household. Using a balanced panel of 1,218 female borrowers, we observe a positive impact of offering telehealth services on self-reported physical and mental health of treated relative to control women. Treated women seek healthcare more proactively; they are more likely to consult a doctor and they do so sooner, as compared to control women. In addition, treated women report greater inclusion in household decision-making. We also find positive spillover effects of offering telehealth services within the household, where we observe a greater likelihood of the spouse and children (of treated women) to seek health care.
Project Members
Dr. Hamna Ahmad (Lahore School of Economics), Muhammad Ahmad Nazif (Lahore School of Economics)
About the project
This project evaluates the impact of telehealth clinic facilities on the health and bargaining power of female microfinance borrowers in using a pilot study in Lahore, Pakistan. Our research is in collaboration with a leading microfinance institution (MFI) which provides affordable financial services to low income households. The study sample comprises the entire client population from two MFI branches; a treatment branch and a control branch. The intervention in our study is provision of a telehealth clinic service by a microfinance institution (MFI) providing medical services i.e. virtually connecting patients with a doctor at the MFI branch. This service was available for use by both MFI borrowers as well as non-borrowers. We assess the impact of this pilot program, which provides telehealth clinic facilities on the well-being of women in the context of an urban, developing country setting. We observe a positive impact of this innovative service on self-reported physical health, mental health and bargaining power of women in the treatment group relative to the control group. In addition, treated women are more likely to seek health-care sooner and experience shorter wait time for doctor’s consultation. We also find spillover effects of this service within the household, where we observe a greater likelihood of the spouse and children seeking outpatient medical care.
Project Members
Dr. Hamna Ahmad (Lahore School of Economics), Dr. Kate Vyborny (Duke University)
About the project
In this paper, we use rich microdata on NGOs in rural Pakistan to investigate how (i) having a local MPA from the political party in power and (ii) alignment between NGO management and the governing party affects the organization's ability to engage and lobby, receive support and mobilize resources from the government as well as their partner organizations. Additionally, we test how both dimensions of political alignment affect the organization's scope of work and outreach to beneficiaries. We use a panel dataset with rich information on the governance structure and activities of NGOs; baseline and endline data collected in 2014 and 2019 respectively. We combine this with election data; 2013 and 2018. We exploit variation in governing party vote share across Provincial Assembly constituencies between two election cycles to assess the impact of political alignment on NGO activity. We find that NGOs are more likely to mobilize government inputs (but less likely to receive support such as funding, connections, technical support etc. from their partners) if the winning MPA in its constituency belongs to the governing party. Despite greater government support in aligned areas, we do not observe strong evidence for these inputs translating into broader outreach of these organizations.
Project Members
Dr. Kate Vyborny(Duke University), Ignacio Rodriguez Hurtado (Duke University)
About the project
Governments frequently intervene in markets with the stated purpose of improving the welfare of the poor. Existing studies document the benefits of redistribution created through government interventions may be vulnerable to capture by elite or politically strategic groups, allowing regressive redistribution. However, in addition to simply redistributive effects, political influences on government distribution can also distort productive decisions, leading to deadweight loss. We study the political economy of government procurement of wheat in Pakistan. Wheat makes up 14 percent of Pakistan's value added in agriculture and 3 percent of GDP (Ministry of Finance, 2009). The wheat market is the most heavily regulated agricultural market in the country; the government buys between a fifth and a third of all wheat produced. The FAO estimates that the cost of this subsidy amounts to USD 248 to 289 million per year (Food Agricultural Organization, 2013). We study political influences on the procurement of wheat using Punjab administrative wheat procurement data (Punjab Food Department, 2002-2010) and electoral data from Fair et. al. (2017). Using a panel fixed effects approach, we document that wheat procurement increases in governing party constituencies. We then examine the responses of farming households using three rounds of the Pakistan Panel Household Survey (PPHS) (2001, 2004, 2010). We document that when an MPA from the governing party is elected, households in government constituencies report receiving higher prices for their wheat. We document household responses respond by increasing the proportion of their land dedicated to planting wheat and selling more wheat in the market.
Project members
Dr. Hamna Ahmad (Lahore School of Economics), Dr. Kate Vyborny (Duke University ), Ijaz Bajwa (The Citizens Foundation)
About the project
The importance of human capital development as a means to sustainable growth is well documented. Owing to COVID-19, there was a prolonged closure of schools between March to September, 2020. During this period, the pandemic caused a worsening of the economic situation for an average low/middle income household. Coupled with reduction in parental investment in health and education of their children, these effects are expected to extend over the long run. In this study we explore the extent of learning loss, identify areas where losses are most profound and test novel ways to facilitate catch up in learning. Such insights can aid education policy for public schools and low-cost private schools, improve educational outcomes and promote sustainable economic growth. Using testing data for 5000 secondary school students; one before the lockdown and school closure in March, 2020 (the baseline), we aim to understand how learning loss correlated to (i) baseline learning levels; (ii) parents’ education and compensatory activities during school closure period and (iii) whether there are particular topics that were subject to more loss requiring dedicated targeting by teachers for re-building concepts in those areas. Based on these findings, we propose a light touch intervention to inform adjustment in the teacher's instructional focus and time for mitigating learning losses due to the pandemic.
Project members
Dr. Hamna Ahmad (Lahore School of Economics), Dr. Kate Vyborny (Duke University)
About the project
This project is funded by Lahore School Research and Development Fund (LSRDF) and in collaboration with researcher from Duke University. In this field experiment we use a crowd-funding platform to study the impact of information on schools, run by a non-government organization, on individual donor behavior. We aim to test the effect of providing information on student’s academic performance and infrastructure needs on perceptions of quality, choice of charities, and amounts of donation.