News

Researchers evaluated the impact of teaching socio-emotional skills to schoolchildren on their emotional well-being, learning, life satisfaction, and long-run labor outcomes.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Uganda to test the impact of a mobile phone-based marketplace for agricultural commodities on local market prices, entry of traders, farmer revenue, and trader profits. Overall, the platform increased trade flows and decreased price variation across...

Researchers introduced text message reminders to evaluate their effect on Kenyan patients taking their antiretrovirals consistently and not skipping doses. Patients who received weekly text messages were more likely to take their medicine 90 percent of the time and were less likely to skip doses for...

Researchers evaluated two types of reward contracts—one that rewarded providers for increased use of inputs and one that rewarded providers for improved health outputs—among rural obstetric care providers in India. They found that both contracts reduced post-partum hemorrhage by 20-23 percent.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of two different performance-based incentives on students’ test scores, motivation, and behavior in Malawi. They find that tournament-style incentives that rewarded the top performers among a large group lowered test scores and student...

Researchers combined subsidized weather index insurance with input loans for fertilizer and modern seed use for smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia to investigate the impact of these products on demand for insurance and resulting shifts in agricultural technology use and crop yields. Results...

In Rarieda, Kenya, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of GiveDirectly’s UCT program on poor rural households’ economic and psychological well-being. Results demonstrated that the program had significant welfare-improving impacts, both economically and psychologically...

Numerous summer jobs programs in the United States seek to support the employment of young people facing barriers to employment and opportunity. Researchers studied the impact of the New York City Summer Youth Employment Program (which used a lottery to determine participation) on youth earnings...