Department: Economics
Faculty Mentor: Arun G. Chandrasekhar, Professor of Economics
Holding governments accountable
Governments often publish data on how they're performing, but simply making information available doesn't mean citizens know how to act on it. Through a partnership with Politize!, a Brazilian civic education NGO, Joao will test whether teaching people about their public health system and about participatory values broadly changes how they respond when they see real data on their local leaders' performance. By generating rigorous evidence on what it takes to move from information access to meaningful participation, the team hopes to empower citizens to demand better public services.