Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police

Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police

This paper investigates the potential of information technology to improve public service delivery and empower citizens. The investigation uses two randomized natural experiments in the renewal of national identification cards by the Bolivian Police. The first experiment arises from the random assignment of police officers and applicants to a manual or digital renewal process, which is identical in all other aspects. The second experiment arises from technical failures in the digital renewal process, which allow police officers to change from the digital to the manual renewal process randomly across renewal days. The efficiency of public service delivery is measured in renewal success rates (which average to a strikingly low rate of 72 percent in the sample) and the time it takes to renew an identification card. The findings show that applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital renewal process were on average 12 percentage points more likely to complete it, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. Further, successful applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital process took on average 31 percent less time to complete the process, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. The investigation finds that information technology significantly lowers barriers to accessing national identification cards, and promotes more equitable provision across the population. The findings suggest that information technology might achieve these goals by introducing efficiencies (such as reducing administrative shortcomings and transaction costs) and limiting the exercise of discretion by police officers in the renewal process.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Machicado Salas, Gustavo, Chong, Alberto, Yanez-Pagans, Monica
Format: Working Paper biblioteca
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017-06
Subjects:IDENTIFICATION CARDS, NATIONAL ID, DIGITAL ID, RENEWAL PROCESS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/447061496345939554/Information-technology-and-provision-of-national-identification-cards-by-the-Bolivian-police-evidence-from-two-randomized-natural-field-experiments
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/26955
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spelling dig-okr-10986269552024-08-09T08:47:15Z Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police Evidence from Two Randomized Natural Field Experiments Machicado Salas, Gustavo Chong, Alberto Yanez-Pagans, Monica IDENTIFICATION CARDS NATIONAL ID DIGITAL ID RENEWAL PROCESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY This paper investigates the potential of information technology to improve public service delivery and empower citizens. The investigation uses two randomized natural experiments in the renewal of national identification cards by the Bolivian Police. The first experiment arises from the random assignment of police officers and applicants to a manual or digital renewal process, which is identical in all other aspects. The second experiment arises from technical failures in the digital renewal process, which allow police officers to change from the digital to the manual renewal process randomly across renewal days. The efficiency of public service delivery is measured in renewal success rates (which average to a strikingly low rate of 72 percent in the sample) and the time it takes to renew an identification card. The findings show that applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital renewal process were on average 12 percentage points more likely to complete it, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. Further, successful applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital process took on average 31 percent less time to complete the process, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. The investigation finds that information technology significantly lowers barriers to accessing national identification cards, and promotes more equitable provision across the population. The findings suggest that information technology might achieve these goals by introducing efficiencies (such as reducing administrative shortcomings and transaction costs) and limiting the exercise of discretion by police officers in the renewal process. 2017-06-05T21:23:20Z 2017-06-05T21:23:20Z 2017-06 Working Paper Document de travail Documento de trabajo http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/447061496345939554/Information-technology-and-provision-of-national-identification-cards-by-the-Bolivian-police-evidence-from-two-randomized-natural-field-experiments https://hdl.handle.net/10986/26955 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8083 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank application/pdf text/plain World Bank, Washington, DC
institution Banco Mundial
collection DSpace
country Estados Unidos
countrycode US
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode dig-okr
tag biblioteca
region America del Norte
libraryname Biblioteca del Banco Mundial
language English
en_US
topic IDENTIFICATION CARDS
NATIONAL ID
DIGITAL ID
RENEWAL PROCESS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IDENTIFICATION CARDS
NATIONAL ID
DIGITAL ID
RENEWAL PROCESS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
spellingShingle IDENTIFICATION CARDS
NATIONAL ID
DIGITAL ID
RENEWAL PROCESS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IDENTIFICATION CARDS
NATIONAL ID
DIGITAL ID
RENEWAL PROCESS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Machicado Salas, Gustavo
Chong, Alberto
Yanez-Pagans, Monica
Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police
description This paper investigates the potential of information technology to improve public service delivery and empower citizens. The investigation uses two randomized natural experiments in the renewal of national identification cards by the Bolivian Police. The first experiment arises from the random assignment of police officers and applicants to a manual or digital renewal process, which is identical in all other aspects. The second experiment arises from technical failures in the digital renewal process, which allow police officers to change from the digital to the manual renewal process randomly across renewal days. The efficiency of public service delivery is measured in renewal success rates (which average to a strikingly low rate of 72 percent in the sample) and the time it takes to renew an identification card. The findings show that applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital renewal process were on average 12 percentage points more likely to complete it, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. Further, successful applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital process took on average 31 percent less time to complete the process, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. The investigation finds that information technology significantly lowers barriers to accessing national identification cards, and promotes more equitable provision across the population. The findings suggest that information technology might achieve these goals by introducing efficiencies (such as reducing administrative shortcomings and transaction costs) and limiting the exercise of discretion by police officers in the renewal process.
format Working Paper
topic_facet IDENTIFICATION CARDS
NATIONAL ID
DIGITAL ID
RENEWAL PROCESS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
author Machicado Salas, Gustavo
Chong, Alberto
Yanez-Pagans, Monica
author_facet Machicado Salas, Gustavo
Chong, Alberto
Yanez-Pagans, Monica
author_sort Machicado Salas, Gustavo
title Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police
title_short Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police
title_full Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police
title_fullStr Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police
title_full_unstemmed Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police
title_sort information technology and provision of national identification cards by the bolivian police
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017-06
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/447061496345939554/Information-technology-and-provision-of-national-identification-cards-by-the-Bolivian-police-evidence-from-two-randomized-natural-field-experiments
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/26955
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AT machicadosalasgustavo evidencefromtworandomizednaturalfieldexperiments
AT chongalberto evidencefromtworandomizednaturalfieldexperiments
AT yanezpagansmonica evidencefromtworandomizednaturalfieldexperiments
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