Publication: Command and Can’t Control: Assessing Centralized Accountability in the Public Sector
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2025-09-03
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2025-09-04
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A long-established and widely used approach to management in government has been the transmission of information up a hierarchy, and centralized decision-making and oversight; colloquially known as ‘command and control’. This paper examines accountability in such a system implemented at scale in Punjab, Pakistan. Using random variation in the intensity of accountability of the scheme, the paper shows that the corresponding de facto punishments had a negligible impact on school or student outcomes. It uses detailed data on the education production function to show that this fundamental component of command-and-control approaches does not induce bureaucratic action towards improvements in government performance.
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“Gulzar, Saad; Ladino, Juan Felipe; Mehmood, Muhammad Zia; Rogger, Daniel. 2025. Command and Can’t Control: Assessing Centralized Accountability in the Public Sector. Policy Research Working Paper; 11200. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43677 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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