Data and Code for: Making Bricks from Straw: Resources and Productivity in Health Care

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
_do			01/12/2026 10:55:AM
_dta			10/17/2025 11:14:AM
_out			10/17/2025 11:14:AM

Project Description

Summary: Why do health facilities in developing countries do so poorly? This paper examines the role of financial constraints. I describe an experiment in which we surprised health workers in randomly selected public health clinics in Nigeria with a N600,000 grant paid out in installments over one year. Its administration was left entirely to health workers. I show that the award led to large productivity gains. Using expenditure data combined with novel textual data I provide an explanation for these effects. I show that the award increased investments in physical and human capital, led to lower prices for patients and inspired health workers to do better.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: grants; health care facilities; productivity; quality; health care delivery

JEL Classification:
I11 Analysis of Health Care Markets
I15 Health and Economic Development

Geographic Coverage: Nigeria

Data Type(s): administrative records data; experimental data; observational data; survey data; text

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Published Versions

V1 [2026-03-03]

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DDI 2.5

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