Misum Open Seminar with Martin Matsson from the National University of Singapore
Welcome to an open seminar on "Why do Governments Overpromise and Underdeliver? Evidence from India's National Clean Air Programme," with Martin Mattsson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the National University of Singapore
Start time:
2025-12-16 at 12:00
End time:
2025-12-16 at 13:00
Location:
A348, Sveavägen 65, Stockholm School of Economics
About the speaker:
Martin Mattsson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the National University of Singapore and an affiliate of J-PAL and CEPR. He is visiting SSE and Uppsala for the 2025 fall semester. His research lies at the intersection of development, public economics, and political economy with a focus on government institutions. Martin’s research combines large-scale administrative and geospatial data with field experiments and survey data, and his research is often carried out in close collaboration with government agencies. He has several ongoing projects on how to ameliorate the air pollution crisis in South Asia.
Title:
"Why do Governments Overpromise and Underdeliver? Evidence from India's National Clean Air Programme," with Archana Dhinakar Bala and Sangita Vyas
Abstract:
What are the political consequences of setting ambitious policy targets, but then failing to meet them? We study this question in the context of India's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), a flagship policy designed to cut air pollution by 40\% in 131 cities and address a crisis that causes 1.2 million deaths annually. Using multiple difference-in-differences approaches, we demonstrate that the program had no effect on air pollution. In a survey experiment with residents of NCAP cities, we show that informing citizens about NCAP boosted their approval of the government’s air pollution policy. Surprisingly, this effect persisted even when respondents were told the program had no impact --- revealing a clear political benefit from the ambitious announcement, and minimal cost for the implementation failure. This incentive structure is consistent with the lack of political commitment to implementing NCAP, which we document, and is a likely explanation for the program's failure.
Please register for the seminar by emailing misum.events@hhs.se