Working Paper: NBER ID: w21180
Authors: Michael Callen; Saad Gulzar; Ali Hasanain; Muhammad Yasir Khan; Arman Rezaee
Abstract: This paper provides evidence that the personalities of policymakers matter for policy. Three results support the relevance of personalities for policy. First, doctors with higher Big Five and Perry Public Sector Motivation scores attend work more and falsify inspection reports less. Second, health inspectors who score higher on these measures exhibit larger treatment responses to increased monitoring. Last, senior health officials with higher personality scores respond more to data on staff absence by compelling better subsequent attendance. These results suggest that interpersonal differences matter are consequential for state performance.
Keywords: Public Sector Performance; Personality Traits; Health Experiment; Pakistan
JEL Codes: C93; D02; D73; H11; O31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Big Five personality traits (D91) | attendance (I29) |
| Perry Public Service Motivation (H83) | attendance (I29) |
| Big Five personality traits (D91) | responsiveness to monitoring interventions (C90) |
| Perry Public Service Motivation (H83) | responsiveness to monitoring interventions (C90) |
| Big Five personality traits (D91) | doctor absence (I11) |
| Perry Public Service Motivation (H83) | doctor absence (I11) |