Replication data for: From Chatter to Action: How Social Networks Inform and Motivate in Rural Uganda

From public health to political campaigns, numerous attempts to encourage behavior begin with the spread of information. Of course, seeding new information does not guarantee action, especially when it’s difficult for receivers to verify this information. We use a novel design that introduced valuable, actionable information in rural Uganda and reveals the intermediate process that led many in the village to hear the information, but only some to act on it. We find that the seeded information spread easily through word-of-mouth via a simple contagion process. However, acting on the information spread less easily; this process relied instead on endogenously created social information that served to vet, verify and pass judgment. Our results highlight an important wedge between information that a policy intervention can best control and the behavior that ultimately results.