Evaluations

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EvaluationsPolicy Publications

Search our database of 994 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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  • Woman using a tablet.

    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 Azevedo

    Despite 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.

  • Résumés were randomly assigned black- or white-sounding names. Researchers examined the impact of the name on callbacks.

    Labor Markets

    Discrimination in the Job Market in the United States

    Marianne Bertrand, Sendhil Mullainathan

    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.

  • Female street vendor in Managua, Nicaragua

    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 Fitzpatrick

    This 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.

  • Crowd of women in bright saris watch man hold up token from cardboard box

    Political Economy & Governance

    Does Development Aid Undermine Political Accountability in Bangladesh?

    Mushfiq Mobarak , Raymond Guiteras

    There 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.

241 Results
woman holding a diaphragm

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...

Girls who scored in the top 15 percent on tests received merit-based scholarships, Kenya.

Education, Gender

Incentives to Learn: A Merit-Based Girls' Scholarship Program in Kenya

Edward Miguel, Michael Kremer, Rebecca Thornton

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...

Indian boy on school room floor

Education

Balsakhi Remedial Tutoring in Vadodara and Mumbai, India

Abhijit Banerjee, Shawn Cole, Esther Duflo, Leigh Linden

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.

Teenage school girls participate in an HIV/AIDS prevention program in Kenya.

Education, Health, Gender

HIV/AIDS Prevention Through Relative Risk Information for Teenage Girls in Kenya

Pascaline Dupas

Information about the relative risks of having sexual relations with older men is an effective way of discouraging unsafe sex among adolescents in Kenya.

Indian boys sitting at computer

Education

Computer-Assisted Learning Project with Pratham in India

Abhijit Banerjee, Shawn Cole, Esther Duflo, Leigh Linden

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.

Boy writes sums on chalkboard

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.

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