{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2025-09-05","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Marcel Fafchamps","affiliation":"Stanford University","email":"fafchamps@stanford.edu"},{"name":"Asad Islam","affiliation":"Monash University","email":"asadul.islam@monash.edu"},{"name":"Debayan Pakrashi","affiliation":"ISI Kolkata","email":"pakrashide@gmail.com"},{"name":"Denni Tommasi","affiliation":"University of Bologna, World Bank","email":"denni.tommasi@unibo.it"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Diffusion In Social Networks: Experimental Evidence On Information Sharing Vs Persuasion","idno":"RR_IND_2025_371"},"data_statement":"All data sources are publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"18.5 MP"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Diffusion In Social Networks: Experimental Evidence On Information Sharing Vs Persuasion","date":"2025-09","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_IND_2025_371","zip_package":"RR_IND_2025_371.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the folder \"Replication\/ado\"."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2025-09-05","abstract":"Human behaviors and innovations often spread through social networks, yet the mechanisms driving this diffusion\u2014information sharing or persuasion\u2014remain debated. Using a large-scale randomized controlled trial in Uttar Pradesh, India, we examine these dynamics while promoting a newly introduced savings commitment product. Our findings reveal persuasion as the dominant channel: villages where persuasion was incentivized experienced significantly higher product sign-up and take-up rates, even without corresponding increases in financial literacy or product knowledge. Conversely, providing information alone had minimal impact. The combined intervention of persuasion and information delivered the highest outcomes, highlighting their complementary roles. These results highlight the critical importance of persuasion in driving behavioral change and suggest that information dissemination alone may often be insufficient for effective adoption and diffusion.","geographic_units":[{"name":"India","code":"IND"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Diffusion"},{"name":"Social Networks"},{"name":"Savings"},{"name":"Financial Inclusion"},{"name":"Information"},{"name":"Persuasion"}],"topics":[{"id":"O16","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Financial Markets \u2022 Saving and Capital Investment \u2022 Corporate Finance and Governance","parent_id":"O1"},{"id":" D14","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Household Saving \u2022 Personal Finance","parent_id":"D1"},{"id":" G21","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Banks \u2022 Depository Institutions \u2022 Micro Finance Institutions \u2022 Mortgages","parent_id":"G2"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Diffusion In Social Networks: Experimental Evidence On Information Sharing Vs Persuasion"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Denni Tommasi","affiliation":"University of Bologna, World Bank","email":"denni.tommasi@unibo.it"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"technology_requirements":"Runtime: 12 hours","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise, version 23H2\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8562Y+ 2.80GHz (2 processors)\n\u2022 Memory available: 32 GB\n\u2022 Software version: Stata (StataNow) 18.5 MP-Parallel Edition","reproduction_instructions":"- Change the global directory in line 17 of the do-file \"main\".\n- Run the do-file","datasets":[{"name":"Survey data on savings and information sharing for sampled communities in Uttar Pradesh, India - Baseline and Endline","note":"Source: data was collected by the authors. File names: \"FI_Baseline_Survey_Kanpur_Data.xlsx\", \"FI_Endline_Survey_C_Data.xlsx\", \"FI_Endline_Survey_Control_Data.xlsx\", \"FI_Endline_Survey_IA_Data.xlsx\", \"FI_Endline_Survey_IAP_Data.xlsx\", \"FI_Endline_Survey_IP_Data.xlsx\", \"FI_Village_Survey_Dataset.xlsx\", \"date_signup_final.dta\". Data was collected from April 2022 to July 2023.\n","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package."}]},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Open Data"}],"schematype":"script"}