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Incentivized Peer Referrals for Tuberculosis Screening: Evidence from India

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  • J. Goldberg
  • M. Macis
  • P. Chintagunta

Abstract

We use a field experiment with 3,176 patients at 122 tuberculosis treatment clinics in India to test whether peer referrals increase screening and identification of patients with an infectious disease. Low-cost financial incentives considerably raise the probability that current patients refer prospective patients for screening and testing, resulting in the cost-effective identification of new tuberculosis cases. Incentivized referrals operate through two mechanisms - peers have private information about individuals in their social networks (beyond their immediate families) to target for outreach, and peers are more effective than traditional contact tracing by paid health workers in inducing these individuals to get tested.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Goldberg & M. Macis & P. Chintagunta, 2019. "Incentivized Peer Referrals for Tuberculosis Screening: Evidence from India," Working Paper CRENoS 201911, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    • Handle: RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201911
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    Cited by:

    1. Guido Friebel & Matthias Heinz & Mitchell Hoffman & Nick Zubanov, 2023. "What Do Employee Referral Programs Do? Measuring the Direct and Overall Effects of a Management Practice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(3), pages 633-686.
    2. Seema Kacker & Mario Macis & Prateek Gajwani & David S. Friedman, 2022. "Providing vouchers and value information for already free eye exams increases uptake among a low‐income minority population: A randomized trial," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 541-551, March.
    3. Thomas Bossuroy & Clara Delavallade & Vincent Pons, 2019. "Biometric Tracking, Healthcare Provision, and Data Quality: Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control," NBER Working Papers 26388, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Ricardo Maertens & Alessandro Tarozzi & Kazi Matin Ahmed & Alexander van Geen, 2018. "Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh," Working Papers id:12934, eSocialSciences.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tuberculosis; referrals; social networks; case finding; incentives; India; health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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