Priyanka Kanwar

Topic: Impact of the Government of India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) System on Service Delivery and Expansion of Financial Inclusion in Rural India
– Research advisor: Professor Mushfiq Mobarak at the Yale School of Management; Led research on and conducted a comparative study of the Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) system and electronic-Fund Management System (e-FMS) for NREGS workers in Karnataka
– One of the first research papers on the impact of the new DBT system, implemented by… Show more

Topic: Impact of the Government of India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) System on Service Delivery and Expansion of Financial Inclusion in Rural India
– Research advisor: Professor Mushfiq Mobarak at the Yale School of Management; Led research on and conducted a comparative study of the Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) system and electronic-Fund Management System (e-FMS) for NREGS workers in Karnataka
– One of the first research papers on the impact of the new DBT system, implemented by the Government of India (GoI);
– Evaluated the impact of DBT on payment outcomes for a sample of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) workers chosen from over 2 million beneficiaries across 138 villages and 67 Gram Panchayats in three districts of Karnataka, with the control group receiving payments via the electronic-Fund Management System (eFMS);
– Found encouraging results that showed the efficacy of DBT, with figures particularly positive and significant for efficiency of wage transfers. Additionally, my results suggested that DBT improves program access, with beneficiaries working for a greater number of days than the control group, and increases access to financial services by mandating the opening of bank accounts. However, I did not observe a significant impact on the wage differential between men and women, which may indicate that benefits with respect to women’s empowerment will be realized with time as the DBT program grows. Show less

Working Paper: Mixed Method Evaluation of a Passive mHealth Sexual Information Texting Service in Uganda

Assisted Professor Karlan and other members at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) in field research, data collection, and analysis.

Abstract: We evaluate the impact of a health information intervention implemented through mobile phones, using a clustered randomized control trial augmented by qualitative interviews. The intervention aimed to improve sexual health knowledge… Show more

Working Paper: Mixed Method Evaluation of a Passive mHealth Sexual Information Texting Service in Uganda

Assisted Professor Karlan and other members at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) in field research, data collection, and analysis.

Abstract: We evaluate the impact of a health information intervention implemented through mobile phones, using a clustered randomized control trial augmented by qualitative interviews. The intervention aimed to improve sexual health knowledge and shift individuals towards safer sexual behavior by providing reliable information about sexual health. The novel technology designed by Google and Grameen Technology Center provided automated searches of an advice database on topics requested by users via SMS. It was offered by MTN Uganda at no cost to users. Quantitative survey results allow us to reject the hypothesis that improving access to information would increase knowledge and shift behavior to less risky sexual activities. In fact, we find that the service led to an increase in promiscuity, and no shift in perception of norms. Qualitative focus groups discussions support the findings of the quantitative survey results. We conclude by discussing a potential mechanism explaining the counterintuitive findings. Show less

SolGen is an early stage start-up, incubated at the Yale School of Management, and is developing back-end technology to establish a live quote generation website and resource base for solar installers and homeowners.