“Can I get that in Writing?” Lessons from a Contracting Field Experiment in Urban Malawi

FALL 2019 RESEARCH INCUBATION AWARDEES

PI: Mahesh Karra, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy, CAS
Track: HIC

In some low- and middle- income countries, transactions between the buyers and the sellers are often conducted informally and are based on credibility. Formalizing contracts can be important and beneficial. The team wants to measure the potential advantages of formalizing contracts. By conducting a field experiment in Lilongwe, Malawi, the team wants to test the extent to which formal contracts improve performance and accountability and crowd out informal contracts.