Research

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Digital Receipts in the Ugandan Dairy Chain — with David Henning (Data collection completed, Draft in progress)
- Presented at: AFE 2025, AAEA & WAEA 2025
- AEA RCT Registry
  Abstract: We provide causal evidence that SMS-based digital receipts—messages reporting daily milk deliveries—improve accountability, delivery behavior, and product quality in agricultural markets with weak monitoring. By turning imperfect transaction information into verifiable digital records, receipts enhance transparency and make intermediary behavior more observable. In a randomized experiment with dairy cooperatives in western Uganda, the intervention raised milk quality and, among farmers relying on transporters, increased discrepancy detection and switching from dishonest intermediaries. Self-deliverers, facing low frictions, delivered more frequently without changing average volume. These results demonstrate that the intervention effects vary with the intensity of information frictions: in high-friction settings, among farmers who use transporters, receipts discipline intermediaries; in low-friction settings, where individuals self-deliver, receipts nudge participation. Overall, we provide evidence that simple digital tools can reduce information asymmetry and strengthen accountability in smallholder supply chains.

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)

Magana Saenz, P. (2015). Behavioral Economics and Nudges Applied to Pawnshops. Gaceta de Economía, 34, 96-126. (Original in Spanish)