Project description
The impact of digitalisation on public services
Each year, 5.7 million people die and 100 million fall into extreme poverty due to limited access to public services in low-income countries. While governments are adopting digital technologies to improve access, many projects are abandoned, wasting resources and risking the exclusion of vulnerable persons. The ERC-funded DIGIDEV project aims to investigate the impact of digitalisation on public services in developing countries. The findings of randomised experiments in India, Indonesia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will shed light on how digital technologies can enhance access to and delivery of services. This will inform public policy in low-income countries, ultimately helping more people access better public services.
Objective
An estimated 5.7 million people die every year and another 100 million are pushed into extreme poverty due to limited access to essential public services in low-income countries (Lancet Health Commission, 2018). Governments across the globe have responded by adopting digital technologies — e.g. by making services available to citizens virtually — in the hopes of providing broader, faster, and cheaper access to public services. While high-income countries have made impressive strides in this regard, low-income countries continue to struggle with nearly one-third of digitalization projects being abandoned and substantial resources being wasted (World Development Report, 2016). Moreover, even when successful, these digitization projects they risk excluding vulnerable individuals with limited connectivity, potentially widening existing inequalities.
This research proposal aims to advance our understanding of (i) the determinants of the success or failure of digitalization in the public sector of developing countries, and (ii) the ways digital technologies can be harnessed to improve the efficiency and inclusion of public service delivery, thereby producing more robust and inclusive economic growth.
In collaboration with local governments and NGOs, I will design and carry out four large-scale randomized experiments in countries where public services are being digitized (India, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Liberia). In these experiments, I will study digital technologies that influence (i) the demand for public services by allowing citizens to access them digitally, and (ii) the supply of in-person services by remotely monitoring or supervising the delivery agents. The results will inform public policy in low-income countries, ultimately helping a broader segment of the population access more and higher quality public services.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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20136 Milano
Italy
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