tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5043138489010794057.post3757317730428883724..comments2024-03-16T17:49:39.343+05:30Comments on Urbanomics: Policing is hard - a bit of humility would be great!Urbanomicshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16956198290294771298noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5043138489010794057.post-52789348256006426462017-07-16T21:19:41.200+05:302017-07-16T21:19:41.200+05:30Thanks Karthik, Ananth for the comments.
Karthik,...Thanks Karthik, Ananth for the comments.<br /><br />Karthik, it is just that formalising such police reforms cannot be done through RCTs, howsoever many you do. They have to come from qualitative instruments, and RCTs can, at best, help identify uncertain operational dimensions - for example, what is the most cost-effective third party evaluation strategy (lowest number with longest periodicity, without compromising on deterrence). I agree with your comments on performance incentives. Thanks for supplementing. <br /><br />Ananth, you point to an important and overlooked dimension. I had earlier posted that if public systems in the West had to deal with the load in India, they too would have collapsed. In fact, given the constraints, the Indian system has held up remarkably well. <br /><br />Any meaningful attempt to get stuff done with efficiency in India has to start with a manifold increase in the size of the state. But this cannot be allowed under existing rules of the game, but one which is more outcomes focused and with greater and more explicit accountability mechanisms. Urbanomicshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16956198290294771298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5043138489010794057.post-18908177942874329032017-07-15T22:28:19.007+05:302017-07-15T22:28:19.007+05:30The blog post is very well done. It is powerful. Y...The blog post is very well done. It is powerful. Yes, in weak systems, personal leadership makes a difference for a while and then when that is removed, the system goes back to its original position.<br /><br />But, on this topic of 'weak administrative systems', I was thinking of whether the administrative system is weak or that the problem (of India's size and numbers) is too big. <br /><br />My wife took my mother to register for Aadhaar in Coimbatore in a E-Seva centre. What she described to me made me think that it is not that right to blame the 'officers' in charge for their low productivity or disinterest or indifference. Ten people surround the table and thrust their sheet of paper in his/her face to be dealt with first. How can one really work in such a situation? No wonder they go off to chat or take tea breaks or toilet breaks. <br /><br />If people queued up, were orderly and went in one after the other of if there was a token system, then one can isolate the productivity problem and blame it on the output providers. In Singapore, they work in air-conditioned offices and behind barriers. Everyone awaits their turn with tokens. Poor government workers in India, sitting in uncomfortable furniture under rickety fans in hot weather. No wonder they feel motivated to reward those who would pay them extra. That is the painkiller that helps them accept and handle the extremely hostile working conditions.<br /><br />Big ticket corruption is more difficult to rationalise than these.<br /><br />Simply put, the weak state capacity is as much a demand problem as it is a supply problem of the State.<br /><br />I think, after so many decades, none of the economists, advisors or policymakers can actually claim to have figured out the right way to administer a country of this size, breadth and complexity.<br /><br />Perhaps, the only way such big countries can be administered is the way China does it.<br /><br />Coming to think of it, therefore, I think the Indian State has not done a bad job of it at all, under the circumstances.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16978858400004505965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5043138489010794057.post-91313244922904944782017-07-15T03:21:45.887+05:302017-07-15T03:21:45.887+05:30Agree with the post. This is one of the main probl...Agree with the post. This is one of the main problems with suggestions built ONLY on "single RCT evidence". <br /><br />RCTs start with presumption that "governments have limited budget/will/capacity" and go on to figure out "what best can be done within these limits to enhance outcomes". If one presumes that governments don't have will, don't have budget, don't have capacity; one can only suggest piecemeal, incremental reforms. Often, these piecemeal, incremental reforms in turn depend on aspects like capacity, will, money, which don't exist as per initial presumption. The other unrecognised collateral damage of such approach is that it legitimises inaction on the budget-will-capacity aspects by signalling the message - "budget-will-capacity are not changeable and hence resort to these incremental reforms". This is harmful in long-term.<br /><br />Performance incentives: Most people obsessed with performance linked incentives don't realize that even in one such widely quoted examples regarding teacher incentives in AP that showed positive impact, researchers changed the metrics midway to account for somethings. Such corrections (which are bound to happen) without a huge outrage are unthinkable in real world. Leave alone the feasibility and capacity to measure students' learning, the metrics for teacher performance.<br /><br />The moral implications of giving incentives to do even the basic duties of job are additional. What kind of institutions are we building where people are to be given incentives even to do basic duties? It can easily spiral down to entitlements.<br /><br />Rewarding performance with transfers: It can easily turn into a "hubris". Such hubris is currently happening in AP in teacher transfers. They included CCE grades of students as one of the metrics in preparation of counselling list for teacher transfers. Since then, teachers are busy inflating grades. <br /><br />Further, such policies concentrate "performing people" in urban areas where capacity challenges are relatively less as compared to other areas. It leaves the most-deserving people with lower-performing people. It's the last thing one should want to do.Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07788636488820902150noreply@blogger.com