Program Targeting with Machine Learning and Mobile Phone Data: Evidence from an Anti-Poverty Intervention in Afghanistan. (arXiv:2206.11400v1 [econ.GN])

Web: http://arxiv.org/abs/2206.11400

Can mobile phone data improve program targeting? By combining rich survey
data from a "big push" anti-poverty program in Afghanistan with detailed mobile
phone logs from program beneficiaries, we study the extent to which machine
learning methods can accurately differentiate ultra-poor households eligible
for program benefits from ineligible households. We show that machine learning
methods leveraging mobile phone data can identify ultra-poor households nearly
as accurately as survey-based measures of consumption and wealth; and that
combining survey-based measures with mobile …

afghanistan arxiv data evidence learning machine machine learning mobile phone