Episode 2 part 1: Getting Rid of the Middlemen

Providing services effectively is a key function that states often fail to deliver. There exist many reasons for this. However, a key reason is that there exist intermediaries who serve as gatekeepers for accessing services. Different middlemen exist for accessing various services, but they all share a common objective. In return for ensuring access to the service, they expect payment. This payment could be in the form of money or other favours the other party must carry out. So why do these middlemen exist? Is it because governments aren't effective in publicising how to access services?

In this episode, we discuss precisely these questions.

This episode is the first part of a two-part-episode series on Getting Rid of the Middlemen based on Dr Tesalia Rizzo Reyes's paper: When Clients Exit: Breaking the Clientelist Feedback Loop. You can access the paper here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mg56bfukhqm15fr/Rizzo-WhenClientsExit_Draft_MostRecent.pdf

Prof. Reyes is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Merced. She is also a Research Affiliate at MIT Governance Lab and the Standard Governance Project. She received her PhD in Political Science in 2020 from MIT. 

Her research interests lie in studying comparative political behaviour and political economy topics using various techniques such as field experiments, surveys, interviews, and observational data. In addition, she is currently working on a book project titled “Intermediaries of the State: The Bureaucratic Transaction Costs of Claiming Welfare in Mexico,” The book explores how bureaucratic transaction costs prevent individuals from directly claiming welfare benefits.

You can learn more about her research here: https://www.tesaliarizzo.com/

Credits:

This episode was hosted and edited by Dhruva Mathur.

The Marketing Supervisor is Priyanka Tiwari. 

The Sound Supervisor is Navraj Choudhary.