Information, Accountability, and Cumulative Learning

Thad Dunning is Robson Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Guy Grossman is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Macartan Humphreys is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, New York and a Director of the Research group 'Institutions and Political Inequality' at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. Susan D. Hyde is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Craig McIntosh is Professor of Economics at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego. Gareth Nellis is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego.

'This pathbreaking and hugely important book presents and, in a series of illuminating empirical chapters, applies a new method for organizing field experimental research to increase the likelihood of knowledge accumulation from multiple studies. In doing so, it offers the most thoughtful and effective response to date to the challenge of cumulative learning in the field-based social sciences.' Daniel N. Posner, James S. Coleman Professor of International Development, University of California, Los Angeles

• Part I. Information, Accountability, and a New Approach to Cumulative Learning: 1. Do informational campaigns promote electoral accountability? Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis; 2. The Metaketa Initiative Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde and Craig McIntosh; 3. Informational interventions: theory and measurement Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis; Part II. Field Experiments: 4. Under what conditions does performance information influence voting behavior? Lessons from Benin Claire Adida, Jessica Gottlieb, Eric Kramon and Gwyneth Mcclendon; 5. When does information increase electoral accountability? Lessons from a field experiment in Mexico Eric Arias, Horacio Larreguy, John Marshall and Pablo Querubin; 6. Candidate videos and vote choice in Ugandan parliamentary elections Melina R. Platas and Pia Raffler; 7. Budgets, SMS texts, and votes in Uganda Mark T. Buntaine, Sarah S. Bush, Ryan Jablonski, Daniel L. Nielson and Paula M. Pickering; 8. Performance-based voting in local elections: experimental evidence from Burkina Faso Malte Lierl and Marcus Holmlund; 9. Horizontal but not vertical: accountability institutions and electoral sanctioning in Northeast Brazil Taylor C. Boas, F. Daniel Hidalgo and Marcus A. Melo; 10. Dilemmas and challenges of citizen information campaigns: lessons from a failed experiment in India Neelanjan Sircar and Simon Chauchard; Part III. Cumulative Learning: 11. Meta-analysis Thad Dunning, Clara Bicalho, Anirvan Chowdhury, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis; 12. Learning about cumulative learning: an experiment with policy practitioners Gareth Nellis, Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Catlan Reardon; Part IV. Conclusion: 13. Challenges and opportunities Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis; Part V. End Matter: 14. Appendix: meta-preanalysis plan (MPAP); 15. References; Part VI. Online Appendix.