Evaluations

Researchers evaluated the impact of targeted mailings encouraging people with criminal records to register to vote on voting behavior in North Carolina. Mailers increased both voter registration and general election turnout among people with past criminal convictions.

Following the implementation of a policy mandating lower-caste representation in some local village councils in India, researchers evaluated how lower-caste presidents invested in and distributed goods. They found that disadvantaged lower-caste groups received more public goods in councils with an...

Although 20 percent of the population in New Delhi, India live in slums and represent an important voter group for politicians, public service provision in slums remains inadequate. In an ongoing study, researchers evaluated whether providing information to government officials and slum dwellers can...

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of expected earnings on candidates’ perception of a community health worker position in Uganda, and on the resulting size and composition of the applicant pool. Fewer socially motivated participants applied when advertised wages were...

Across six randomized evaluations, researchers studied the impact of low-cost, low-touch informational interventions, or “nudges,” on take-up of the federal and state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in California. None of the interventions had an impact on EITC take-up, suggesting that information...

Researchers measured the impact of improving the quality of slum housing on household wellbeing in El Salvador, Mexico, and Uruguay. Residents were selected to receive housing upgrades by lottery. Results show that slum upgrading significantly improved satisfaction with quality of life. In two...

In Malawi, researchers studied the introduction of a daily minibus service that connected five rural villages and the nearby market town. Although a majority of households used the new bus service, demand was very sensitive to price and was never sufficient to cover operational costs.