Research
Job Market Paper
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Digital Receipts in the Ugandan Dairy Chain — with David Henning (Data collection completed, Draft in progress)
- Presented at: AAEA & WAEA 2025, AFE 2025
Abstract: We provide causal evidence that digital receipts—SMS messages reporting milk deliveries—can improve accountability, delivery behavior, and product quality in agricultural markets. In a randomized experiment with dairy cooperatives in western Uganda, we find that treated farmers, particularly those who self-deliver, are significantly more likely to deliver milk. This increase in delivery activity occurs without a change in average volumes delivered, suggesting a shift along the extensive margin. The intervention also improves milk quality: treated farmers deliver higher-quality (less diluted) milk, as measured by lactometer readings. Among farmers who rely on transporters, digital receipts increase the likelihood of detecting discrepancies, switching baseline transporters, and reporting lower trust in intermediaries. These results show that the intervention works differently depending on whether information frictions are present: for self-deliverers, who already have full observability over their deliveries, impacts are concentrated on participation, while for transporter users, where observability is limited, impacts are concentrated on detecting discrepancies and moving away from dishonest transporters. By turning unobservable transactions into verifiable digital records, SMS receipts enhance transparency and make intermediary behavior more observable. Overall, our findings show how simple digital tools can reduce information frictions, shift farmer and intermediary behavior, and improve product quality in fragmented agricultural systems.
Selected Research in Progress
- Banking Amidst Conflict: How Violence Shapes Financial Inclusion in Mexico – with Xiaofei Wang (Data analysis ongoing)
- Aligning Incentives through Digital Monitoring: Evidence from the Ugandan Dairy Sector (In progress)
- From Prayer to Progress: Religious Festivals and Development in Mexico (In progress)
Publications (Pre-Doctoral)
- Magana Saenz, P. (2015). Behavioral Economics and Nudges Applied to Pawnshops. Gaceta de Economía, 34, 96-126. (Original in Spanish)