12 network experiments and interventions: studying information diffusion and collective action

Manoj Mohanan

Network Experiments & Interventions:Studying Information Diffusion and Collective ActionManoj Mohanan (Duke)

Collaborators: Vikram Rajan (World Bank) Harsha Thirumurthy (UNC) Arun Chandrashekhar (Stanford) Kendal Swanson (Duke),Jim Moody (Duke)

Key Research QuestionsBrief background (so brief, that I dont even have a bullet point!)1. Spread the word: (information diffusion) Effectiveness of broadcast strategy (using phone or IVR) v/s government representatives v/s social network seeds on:Village level participation in community activitiesIndividual level spread (quality of information transfer)IDENTIFY OPTIMAL STRATEGIES FOR INFORMATION DISSEMINATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions2

Research Question contd2. Should I go or should I stay?Individual decision to participate in community (collective action problem)Participation as a function of information within network (if more people within my network are reminded about upcoming event, am I more likely to go?)Individual Participation as a function of participation within network (if more people within my network are going to participate in an upcoming event, am I more likely to go?)Are there threshold effects for participation in collective action?Do we see evidence of free riding?

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Our network dataCensus of all households in 80 intervention areas (avg. 400HH per village)Questions about information sharing, borrowing money and social time on all adult individualsUniquely identified to every household (individual within household) with cell phone numbers Example of what our data looks like (thanks to Jim Moody and the DNAC!):

http://www.soc.duke.edu/~jmoody77/dnacconsults/v7_mrtest.htm

http://www.soc.duke.edu/~jmoody77/dnacconsults/v8_mrtest.htm


Design of the experiment(s)


Information ExperimentEffectiveness of methods of information dissemination:Randomize villages to receive info about meetings and VNHDMonth 1: Network seeds v/s Broadcast message Month 2: Government seeds v/s BroadcastEnd of every month collect information from ~32000 hh using IVR

Variant of above specification (limited to villages w facilitation) with individual participation in meeting as the dependent variable


Networks & Collective Action Experiment - 1Key issues about information in relation to social networks and the participation decision:Effect of information diffusion within my network, on my decision to participate in collective actionEffect of my networks participation, on my decision to participate in collective actionCommon KnowledgeClearly major endogeneity problems here!!!Working in multiple months (3,4,5), with multiple rounds of randomization allows us to test some of these hypothesis5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions7

Networks & Collective Action Experiment - 2SMS / IVR info to ALL households about VHNDRandomize x% of village households to receive a visitVisit: reminder about meetingSubset (x-k)% receive a small incentive to attend meetingNO COMMON KNOWLEDGE in Month 3Repeat in Month 4, with re-randomization WITH COMMON KNOWLEDGEEVERY Household that is visited is informed about who else (in their network) is being visited. At end of every month, we collect IVR data on information and participation from ALL 32000 households.5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions8

Design of the experiment(2)5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions9

Picking x%5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions10

Analysis plan for networks


@ household level (only in facilitation villages)5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions12Reduced form

Possible IV strategy?5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions13

Appendix5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions14

Acknowledgement: Funding & SupportGovernment of Uttar PradeshUP Health Systems Strengthening Project (UPHSSP)State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD)World Bank Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF)

Note: This is very early stage work, we plan to roll out interventions in coming months so need your advice and feedback!5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions15

What is social accountability?Set of governance interventions Increasing community participation Strengthen community members ability to hold service providers accountable at the local level TWO key channels:information provisiongrievance redressal through community engagement

Lots of interest among donors and researchers, empirical evidence (especially on mechanisms is thin)5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions16

Objectives of Research ProjectImpact of Social Accountability on Service Delivery, Utilization, and OutcomesEvaluate the impact of SA interventions when implemented at scale in a real world policy setting Evaluate impact when same policy is implemented at a more intense facilitated manner (micro level)Test mechanism hypotheses:Effect of information alone v/s effect of information PLUS facilitation for community engagement Effectiveness of information dissemination strategies:Broadcast versus social networks versus government machineryRole of social networks in dissemination of informationEffect of participation within social networks on collective actionThreshold effects versus free riding5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions17



20Network Experiments and Interventions

SaharanpurMuzaffar NagarBijnorMoradabadRampurJP NagarMeerutBaghpatGB NagarBulandshahrAligarhHathrasMathuraAgraFirozabadEtahMainpuriBudaunBareillyPilibhitShahjahanpurLakhimpur KheriSitapurHardoiUnnaoFarrukhabadKannaujEtawahAuraiyaKanpur Dehat

Kanpur NagarJalaunJhansiLalitpurHamirpurMahobaBandaChitrakootFatehpurPratapgarhKaushambiAllahabadBarabankiAmbedkarNagarSultanpurBahraichShrawastiBalrampurGondaSiddharthnagarBastiS K NgrMaharajganjGorakhpurKushinagarDeoriaAzamgarhMauBalliaGhazipurChandauliVaranasiMirzapurSonbhadraGhaziabadLucknow

RaebareliAmethiShamliHapurSambhalFaizabad

Jaunpur

Bhadohi

Uttar Pradesh

Kasganj

120 village randomization50 block randomization

Study Districts5/19/16

SA intervention in policy contextSA in National Health Mission (2005)Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC)Committee of local (village) level governmentStatutory role in identifying village level health needsDiscretionary funds available every year.Village Health Nutrition Day (VHND)Once a month, services to be provided by the 3 As:primary care, immunization, ANC, and maternal and child nutrition supplementation Key focus is on childhood (mal)nutritionICDS is the worlds largest nutrition program (~ 2.5 billion USD per year)Leakages, poor quality, low utilization (and probably too little)SUBTEXT: Fiscal decentralization in India42% of total tax revenues given to states (up from 32%)5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions21

Work done so farProgram designBaseline surveysNetwork surveysDraft analysis plan and intervention design5/19/16Network Experiments and Interventions22

The SA interventionState Institute of Rural Development (SIRD)300 GP Coordinators deployed across 51 blocks (plus 16 in the 2 districts) key role is to facilitate the constitution of VHSNC and help coordinate monthly meetings, develop village level score cards for performance of AAA30 supervisors (block and district level coordinators)Will train ~10,000 VHSNC members across all implementation areasMay 2016 training is in progress. Roll out starts next week; VHSNC meeting starts in July!


Households in the 80 intervention villages:Total INDIVIDUALsMean HH per villageSDMinMax88,177431.06187.1664765

AgeN% Stunted% Wasted

12 network experiments and interventions: studying information diffusion and collective action

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