Evaluations
Search our database of 998 randomized evaluations conducted by our affiliates in 84 countries. To browse summaries of key policy recommendations from a subset of these evaluations, visit the Policy Publications tab.
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Finance
Eliminating Behavioral Barriers to Saving through a Tablet App for the Base of the Pyramid in Paraguay
Jeanne Lafortune , Jose Tessada, Liliana Olarte, Viviane AzevedoDespite the benefits of accumulating savings, low-income individuals rarely use formal savings products. Researchers are partnering with a financial institution in Paraguay to evaluate the impact of a range of tablet-based applications, which remind people to save and help them make savings goals, on savings behavior of low-income individuals.
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Labor Markets
Discrimination in the Job Market in the United States
Researchers examined the level of racial discrimination in the United States labor market by randomly assigning identical résumés black-sounding or white-sounding names and observing the impact on requests for interviews from employers. Results found that résumés with white-sounding names received 50 percent more callbacks than those with black-sounding names, indicating that, all other things being equal, considerable racial discrimination exists in the American labor market.
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Finance, Health
Extending Health Insurance to the Informal Sector Through Microfinance in Nicaragua
Erica Field, Rebecca Thornton , Laurel Hatt, Mursaleena Islam, Freddy Solis Diaz, Martha Gonzalez Monada, Anne FitzpatrickThis evaluation measured the determinants of insurance enrollment as well as the impacts of having insurance for informal sector workers by randomly varying the costs and convenience of signing up for a government health insurance program available to formal and informal sector workers in Nicaragua. Overall, take-up of the insurance and retention rates were low, and enrolling in the program did not provide an absolute cost savings for participants.
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Political Economy & Governance
Does Development Aid Undermine Political Accountability in Bangladesh?
Mushfiq Mobarak , Raymond GuiterasThere is little evidence to lend credence to or discredit the argument that development aid undermines political accountability. In Tanore district of Bangladesh, researchers tested the impact of providing external subsidies for sanitation projects on the behavior of local leaders and, subsequently, on constituents’ perception of their performance. They found that while constituents credited leaders for the sanitation program when the funding source was unknown, they did not credit local leaders when funding information was made transparent.
Environment, Energy, & Climate Change, Health
Belief Formation of Risks of Arsenic in Bangladesh
Alessandro Tarozzi
, Lori Bennear, Alexander H. B. Pfaff, Kazi Soumya, Matin Ahmed, Alexander van Geen
Providing households with more nuanced risk information about arsenic levels in drinking water had no effect on whether they switched to use a safe well.
Environment, Energy, & Climate Change, Political Economy & Governance
Local Leadership and the Voluntary Provision of Public Goods in Bolivia
Kelsey Jack
, María P. Recalde
Researchers used a randomized evaluation to test how local leaders influence the voluntary provision of public goods. They found that when elected community leaders were asked to set an example, they increased the amount they gave and induced followers to contribute more as well.
Environment, Energy, & Climate Change
Improving the Allocation of Land Use Subsidies Through Self-Selection in Malawi
Kelsey Jack
, Elsa Cardona Santo
This study examined the potential of self-selection to improve allocational efficiency in the context of a program that subsidized tree planting in Malawi. After three years, participants who self-selected through an auction had more surviving trees than participants selected at random, indicating that the auction revealed information about the participants that was important for efficient...
Environment, Energy, & Climate Change, Finance
Powering Small Retailers: The Adoption of Solar Energy under Different Pricing Schemes in Kenya
This randomized evaluation tests how price and payment method affect the adoption of off-grid solar power among small retailers near Nairobi and if access to electricity can improve their businesses’ performance.
Environment, Energy, & Climate Change, Health, Political Economy & Governance
Light up Bihar, India
Michael Greenstone, Nick Ryan, Robin Burgess
, Anant Sudarshan
In an ongoing study in India, researchers are partnering with the Government of Bihar Energy Department to test the effectiveness of a group payment incentive through which neighborhoods can earn more reliable electricity supply.
Environment, Energy, & Climate Change
The Demand for and Costs of Rural Electrification in Kenya
Catherine Wolfram, Edward Miguel
, Kenneth Lee
Over the past century, rural electrification has served as a key benchmark for economic development and social progress. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of offering subsidies to connect to the power grid on the demand for rural electrification in Kenya. The study finds that demand falls rapidly as connection price increases, and that supply costs are very high...