State capacity to provide public services depends on the motivation of the agents recruited
to deliver them. We design an experiment to quantify the effect of agent selection on service
effectiveness. The experiment, embedded in a nationwide recruitment drive for a new government
health position in Zambia, shows that agents attracted to a civil service career have more
skills and ambition than those attracted to “doing good”. Data from a mobile platform, administrative
records, and household surveys show that they deliver more services, change health
practices, and produce better health outcomes in the communities they serve.