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Personalities and Public Sector Performance: Evidence from a Health Experiment in Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Callen
  • Saad Gulzar
  • Ali Hasanain
  • Muhammad Yasir Khan
  • Arman Rezaee

Abstract

This paper presents evidence that selecting better people to work in government and improving their incentives are complements in improving government effectiveness. To do so, this paper combines a policy that improved incentives for health service delivery in Punjab, Pakistan, with data on health worker personalities. We present three key results. First, government doctors with higher personality scores perform better, even under status quo incentives. Second, health inspectors with higher personality scores exhibit larger treatment responses when incentives are reformed. Last, senior health officials with higher personality scores respond more to data on staff absence by compelling better subsequent attendance.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Callen & Saad Gulzar & Ali Hasanain & Muhammad Yasir Khan & Arman Rezaee, 2025. "Personalities and Public Sector Performance: Evidence from a Health Experiment in Pakistan," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(3), pages 1439-1474.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:doi:10.1086/731673
    DOI: 10.1086/731673
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    2. Sebastian Butschek & Roberto González Amor & Patrick Kampkötter & Dirk Sliwka, 2019. "Paying Gig Workers - Evidence from a Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7983, CESifo.
    3. Federico A. Bugni & Ivan A. Canay & Azeem M. Shaikh, 2018. "Inference Under Covariate-Adaptive Randomization," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 113(524), pages 1784-1796, October.
    4. Trivitt, Julie & Cheng, Albert, 2016. "When you say nothing at all: The predictive power of student effort on surveysAuthor-Name: Hitt, Collin," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 105-119.
    5. Frederico Finan & Benjamin A. Olken & Rohini Pande, 2015. "The Personnel Economics of the State," NBER Working Papers 21825, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Hasanain, Syed Ali & Khan, Muhammad Yasir & Rezaee, Arman, 2023. "No bulls: Experimental evidence on the impact of veterinarian ratings in Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    7. Michael Callen & Saad Gulzar & Syed Ali Hasanain & Muhammad Yasir Khan, 2016. "The Political Economy of Public Sector Absence: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan," NBER Working Papers 22340, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Prakash, Nishith & Rockmore, Marc & Uppal, Yogesh, 2019. "Do criminally accused politicians affect economic outcomes? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Berry, James & Mehta, Saurabh & Mukherjee, Priya & Ruebeck, Hannah & Shastry, Gauri Kartini, 2021. "Crowd-out in school-based health interventions: Evidence from India’s midday meals program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    10. Kerstin Eilermann & Katrin Halstenberg & Ludwig Kuntz & Kyriakos Martakis & Bernhard Roth & Daniel Wiesen, 2019. "The Effect of Expert Feedback on Antibiotic Prescribing in Pediatrics: Experimental Evidence," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 39(7), pages 781-795, October.
    11. Max Tabord-Meehan, 2023. "Stratification Trees for Adaptive Randomisation in Randomised Controlled Trials," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(5), pages 2646-2673.
    12. Manoj Mohanan & Katherine Donato & Grant Miller & Yulya Truskinovsky & Marcos Vera-Hernández, 2021. "Different Strokes for Different Folks? Experimental Evidence on the Effectiveness of Input and Output Incentive Contracts for Health Care Providers with Varying Skills," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 34-69, October.
    13. Federico A. Bugni & Ivan A. Canay & Azeem M. Shaikh, 2019. "Inference under covariate‐adaptive randomization with multiple treatments," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 10(4), pages 1747-1785, November.
    14. Marianne Bertrand & Robin Burgess & Arunish Chawla & Guo Xu, 2020. "The Glittering Prizes: Career Incentives and Bureaucrat Performance," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(2), pages 626-655.
    15. Fabregas, Raissa & Zanoni, Wladimir, 2025. "The migrant penalty in Latin America: Experimental evidence from job recruiters," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    16. Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Chenhao, 2024. "Centralization and regulatory enforcement: Evidence from personnel authority reform in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    17. Rachid Laaja & Karen Macours, 2021. "Measuring Skills in Developing Countries," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(4), pages 1254-1295.
    18. James Habyarimana & Stuti Khemani & Thiago Scot, 2023. "The importance of political selection for bureaucratic effectiveness," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(359), pages 746-779, July.
    19. Donald,Aletheia Amalia & Goldstein,Markus P. & Rouanet,Lea Marie, 2022. "Two Heads Are Better Than One : Agricultural Production and Investment in Côte d’Ivoire," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10047, The World Bank.
    20. Owoo, Nkechi S. & Amankwah, Akuffo & Castaing, Pauline & Palacios-Lopez, Amparo, 2024. "Household Business Performance in Ghana : The Role of Personality Traits and Gender Role Attitudes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10804, The World Bank.
    21. Vatt Bankoson, 2021. "Global Moral Standards as Viewed by the Thai Professionals," International Journal of Publication and Social Studies, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(1), pages 56-71, June.
    22. Eilermann, Kerstin & Halstenberg, Katrin & Kuntz, Ludwig & Martakis, Kyriakos & Roth, Bernhard & Wiesen, Daniel, 2019. "The Effect of Expert Feedback on Antibiotic Prescribing in Pediatrics: Experimental Evidence," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2020:1, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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