Evaluations
Search our database of 935 randomized evaluations conducted by our affiliates in 81 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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Health
The Impact of Cash Transfers on Delivery Planning and Maternal Care Quality in Kenya
Margaret McConnell, Jessica Cohen , Claire Rothschild, Ginger Golub, George Omondi, Katherine Lofgren, Margaret KrukResearchers evaluated whether cash transfers and decision-making nudges could help low-income pregnant women in Nairobi, Kenya deliver where they wanted and in a high-quality facility. They found that cash transfers, conditioned on precommitment to a delivery facility, led to more effective birth planning and increased the likelihood that women delivered at higher-quality facilities.
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Political Economy & Governance, Crime, Violence, & Conflict
Deterring Drunk Driving in India
Abhijit Banerjee, Daniel Keniston, Esther Duflo , Nina SinghTo evaluate which strategies are most effective at preventing drunk driving and reducing traffic accidents, researchers evaluated an anti-drunk driving program in India. Overall, the anti-drunk driving program was effective in reducing traffic deaths and accidents, with these reductions driven entirely by police stations that implemented surprise checkpoints. Promising transfers to reserve police for good behavior more than doubled the number of drunk drivers brought to court.
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Health
The Impact of Bundled Payments on Medicare Spending, Utilization, and Quality in the United States
Amy Finkelstein , Jonathan Skinner, Neale Mahoney, Yunan JiResearchers use a randomized evaluation to examine the impact of bundled payments on Medicare spending, utilization, and quality of care for knee and hip replacements, two common and expensive medical procedures.
Education, Gender
Menstruation and Education in Nepal
Rebecca Thornton
, Emily Oster
Researchers introduced a convenient and hygienic sanitary product, reusable menstrual cups, to Nepalese girls in the seventh and eighth grades. Their evaluation addressed several questions: Is menstruation as large a barrier to education as many believe? Does switching to modern sanitary products increase attendance and school performance among girls? Results showed that girls in Nepal missed...
Education, Gender
Incentives to Learn: A Merit-Based Girls' Scholarship Program in Kenya
Approximately 85 percent of primary school age children in western Kenya are enrolled in school, but only about one-third of students finish primary school. Dropout rates are typically higher for girls; in 2001 the 6th grade dropout rate was 10 percent for girls and 7 percent for boys among students in this study’s comparison schools at baseline. This project was introduced in part to assist...
Education
Balsakhi Remedial Tutoring in Vadodara and Mumbai, India
Researchers evaluated the impact of the Balsakhi Program, a remedial tutoring education intervention implemented in schools in Vadodara and Mumbai, India, on student learning. The program significantly improved student test scores in both locations.
Education, Health, Gender
HIV/AIDS Prevention Through Relative Risk Information for Teenage Girls in Kenya
Information about the relative risks of having sexual relations with older men is an effective way of discouraging unsafe sex among adolescents in Kenya.
Education
Computer-Assisted Learning Project with Pratham in India
In Vadodora, India, researchers studied the impact of supplementing classroom instruction with computer-assisted learning (CAL) in primary schools. CAL significantly improved student’s math scores, but was less cost-effective than the remedial tutor-based program, Balsakhi.
Education
Encouraging Teacher Attendance through Monitoring with Cameras in Rural Udaipur, India
Esther Duflo, Rema Hanna
, Stephen Ryan
This study estimated the effect of financial incentives on teacher attendance on students' attendance and math and language levels. The incentives increased teacher attendance and teaching time, and student test scores rose as a result.