Data and Code for: Improving Police Performance in Rajasthan, India: Experimental Evidence on Incentives, Managerial Autonomy and Training

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Abhijit Banerjee, MIT; Esther Duflo, MIT; Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, IIM Calcutta; Daniel Keniston, LSU; Nina Singh, Rajasthan Police

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
CodeFiles			04/16/2020 12:48:PM
DataFiles			04/16/2020 12:50:PM
README.pdf	application/pdf	71.8 KB	04/16/2020 08:54:AM
README_v3.pdf	application/pdf	84.2 KB	05/27/2020 03:02:PM

Project Citation:

Banerjee, Abhijit, Duflo, Esther, Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra, Keniston, Daniel, and Singh, Nina. Data and Code for: Improving Police Performance in Rajasthan, India: Experimental Evidence on Incentives, Managerial Autonomy and Training. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2021. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-01-28. https://doi.org/10.3886/E116807V1

Project Description

Summary: Management matters for firms, but what practices are optimal in hierarchical government organizations? And can skilled managers identify them? A large-scale randomized trial conducted with the police of Rajasthan, India, tested four interventions recommended by senior police officers: limitations of transfers, rotation of duties and days off, increased community involvement, and on-duty training. Field experience motivated a fifth intervention: “decoy” visits by enumerators to register cases, incentivizing staff to improve service. Only training and decoy visits had robust impacts; others were poorly implemented and ineffective. Management reforms can improve policing, but even skilled leaders struggle to identify the optimal interventions.

Funding Sources: Will and Flora Hewlett Foundation; UNODC

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Policing; personnel management; bureaucracy

JEL Classification:
      D02 Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
      D23 Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
      D73 Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
      F63 Economic Impacts of Globalization: Economic Development
      H11 Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government
      K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

Geographic Coverage: Rajasthan, India

Time Period(s): 2006 – 2008

Data Type(s): administrative records data; survey data

Methodology

Collection Mode(s): face-to-face interview

Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2021-01-28]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. As of April 2026, depositors are required to submit study materials in accessible formats. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.