University of Michigan research in India shows that giving bureaucrats better access to information can speed payments to millions of workers.
For years, University of Michigan economist Yusuf Neggers worked alongside government officials in India, watching them navigate one of the world's largest public employment programs.
The experience left him questioning a common assumption about why government benefits are often delayed.
"One thing that was always striking was how hard the officials we worked with were working," said Neggers, assistant professor at the U-M Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. "They were putting in long hours, often seven days a week, and their attention was constantly being pulled in many different directions."
Those observations became the starting point for a new study examining delays in wage payments under India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the world's largest public works program, which guarantees up to 100 days of wage employment annually to rural households.
The study finds that, in many cases, delays stem not from corruption or a lack of motivation, but from a simpler problem: overburdened bureaucrats struggling to access and act on the information they need.
"We thought information was likely to matter, but we didn't want to rely only on our impressions," Neggers said. "We wanted stronger evidence."
To test that idea, Neggers and his collaborators partnered with India's Ministry of Rural Development to build and evaluate a mobile application called PayDash. The app reorganized information already available in the government's management information system, making it easier for local officials to identify pending wage payments that required action.
The intervention did not change incentives, increase staffing or introduce new financial resources. It simply delivered existing information in a format designed around how officials actually worked.
The results were striking.
Officials using PayDash processed wage payments more quickly, significantly reducing bureaucratic delays. Neggers said that "even though PayDash itself only provided payment-processing information, bureaucrat access to the app expanded social protection. Work provision rose by 9%, with a 23% increase in active worksites, concentrated in the agricultural lean season - precisely when safety net protection matters most. This increased work activity likely reflects both greater interest in MGNREGS work by rural households - who could now rely on faster, more predictable payments - and officials having more bandwidth to open new worksites."
The findings challenged a longstanding narrative in development policy that improving public services primarily requires stronger oversight or tougher anti-corruption measures.
Corruption exists, Neggers said, but it is not always the dominant explanation.
"My co-authors and I have worked with bureaucracies in India and elsewhere," he said. "Corruption and shirking do exist and are nontrivial problems. But we wondered whether they were the whole story, or even the most important part of it."
Instead, the study suggests many officials were operating under severe administrative constraints, juggling competing responsibilities with limited time and resources.
The implications extend beyond India's employment program.
Governments around the world are investing heavily in digital governance and artificial intelligence, often focusing on building entirely new systems. Neggers said he believes there is also tremendous value in making better use of the current systems.
In India's case, much of the underlying digital infrastructure was already in place. Government databases tracked payment requests and processing stages, but the information was difficult for frontline officials to navigate efficiently.
The research demonstrates that relatively modest improvements in how information is presented can produce meaningful improvements in public service delivery.
"I see investments in new technologies and improvements to existing systems as complementary," Neggers said. "The question is how to bridge the gap between what governments already have and what new technologies now make possible."
The study also offers a broader lesson about public administration.
"It is important to remember that bureaucratic shortcomings are not always about shirking or corruption," Neggers said. "Many public servants are extremely hardworking and highly motivated."
He sees that commitment not only in India but also among students at the Ford School who have worked in government in the U.S. and around the world.
"They could often earn more elsewhere," he said. "But they choose public service and work very hard."
For Neggers, the research ultimately shifts the conversation away from blaming individuals and toward designing institutions that help them succeed.
"Our findings were consistent with what we had observed," he said. "This was not simply a bureaucracy full of lazy or corrupt people. Officials were trying hard; making their jobs a little easier, produced meaningful returns for some of the most vulnerable people in India.
