# **3 Empirical Method and Main Results**

## **3.1 Method**

The unit of observation is project _i_ of type _j_ in organization _n_ . We estimate the following OLS specification, _yijn_ = _γ_ 1 _CS_ - _autonomyn_ + _γ_ 2 _CS_ - _incentives/monitoringn_ + _γ_ 3 _CS_ - _othern_ + _β_ 1 _PCijn_ + _β_ 2 _OCn_ + _λj_ + _✏ijn_ (1) where _yijn_ is either an indicator of whether the project is initiated, whether it is fully completed (both extensive margin outcomes), or a continuous measure of the project completion rate (the intensive margin). Management practices are measured using the CS-autonomy, CSincentives/monitoring and CS-other indices, and _PCijn_ and _OCn_ are project and organizational controls.<sup>11</sup> As Figure 1B highlighted, many organizations implement the same project type _j_ , so we can control for project type fixed e↵ects _λj_ in (1), as well as fixed e↵ects for the broad sector the implementing organization operates in.<sup>12</sup> The partial correlations of interest are _γ_ 1 and _γ_ 2, the e↵ect size of a one standard deviation change in management practices along the respective margins of autonomy and incentives/monitoring. To account for unobserved shocks, we cluster standard errors by organization ( _n_ ), the same level of variation as management practices. In the Appendix we show robustness of our main results to alternative levels of clustering.

## **3.2 Main Results**

Table 3 presents our main results. Columns 1 to 4 focus on the outcome of full project completion. A robust set of findings emerge across specifications: (i) management practices providing bureaucrats more autonomy are robustly positively correlated with the likelihood of project completion ( _γ_ b1 _>_ 0); (ii) management practices related to the provision of incentives or monitoring to bureaucrats are robustly _negatively_ correlated with the likelihood of project completion ( _γ_ b2 _<_ 0). The

> 11Project controls comprise project-level controls for whether the project is regularly implemented by the organization or a one o↵, whether the project is a bundle of interconnected outputs, and whether the division has to coordinate with actors external to government to implement the project. Capital controls comprise a count of the number of interviews undertaken, which is a close approximation of the total number of employees. General controls comprise organization-level controls for the share of the workforce with degrees, the share of the workforce with postgraduate qualifications, and the span of control. Following BVSR, we condition on ‘noise’ controls related to the management surveys. Noise controls are averages of indicators of the seniority, gender, and tenure of all respondents, the average time of day the interview was conducted and of the reliability of the information as coded by the interviewer.

> 12Project type fixed e↵ects relate to whether the primary classification of the project is listed as Advocacy and Policy Development, Financial and Budget Management, ICT Management and Research, Monitoring/Training/Personnel Management, Physical Infrastructure, Permits and Regulation, or Procurement. Sector fixed e↵ects relate to whether the project is in the administration, environment, finance, infrastructure, security/diplomacy/justice or social sector.

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