Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Digital Receipts in the Ugandan Dairy Chain

Presented by Pedro Magaña Sáenz
University of Wisconsin

Moderated by Nathalie Raschka (IGC)

Organized by the Private Sector Development Research Network
hosted by the International Growth Center (IGC)

Friday, June 12th 2026, from 9-10am EST
Click here to join virtually the day of the seminar

ABOUT THE SEMINAR

This seminar will present causal evidence that that SMS-based digital receipts for daily milk deliveries improve accountability, product quality, and delivery frequency, using a randomized experiment with dairy cooperatives in western Uganda. In a context of weak monitoring and imperfect transaction information, these messages allow smallholder farmers to better observe the behavior of intermediaries in the supply chain. The intervention effects vary with the intensity of information frictions. Among farmers facing high information frictions (i.e., those relying on intermediaries to transport milk), the intervention increased the detection of discrepancies and encouraged switching away from dishonest intermediaries. Farmers in low-friction settings (those who deliver milk themselves) delivered more frequently; the likely mechanism is a behavioral nudge created by receiving messages both on days with deliveries and days without deliveries. The intervention also increased milk quality for both self-deliverers and farmers using transporters. Overall, the results show that simple digital tools can reduce information asymmetries and strengthen accountability in smallholder supply chains.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Pedro Magaña Sáenz, University of Wisconsin

Pedro Magaña Sáenz is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research lies at the intersection of development economics, organizational economics, and public policy, with a focus on rural markets and firms. He combines field experiments with administrative data to explore how policies, institutions, and technology affect economic behavior, especially within agricultural value chains and smallholder settings. Over the past decade, he has conducted studies in Mexico, El Salvador, Malawi, and Uganda. His work is supported by J-PAL, the International Growth Centre, and the Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics.
Pedro holds a B.A. in Economics from ITAM (Mexico City) and dual M.A. degrees in Applied Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor.