Evaluations
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.
Sector
Data Available
Region
Country
Intervention Type
Target Group
Outcome of Interest
Researcher
Research Initiative
Status
Featured
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Education, Political Economy & Governance
Decentralization: A Cautionary Tale - Public Finance in Kenya
Michael Kremer
, Sylvie Moulin, Robert Namunyu
Education, Political Economy & Governance
Peer Effects, Pupil-Teacher Ratios, and Teacher Incentives in Kenya
Researchers evaluated three interventions that addressed the large class sizes and heterogeneity in student preparation in the Kenyan school system. They found that hiring additional local contract teachers helped reduce classroom overcrowding and improved student learning outcomes.
Education, Political Economy & Governance
Primary Education Management in Madagascar
Paul Glewwe
, Trang Van Nguyen, Gerard Lassibille, Eugenie W. H. Maïga, Jee-Peng Tan, Cornelia Jesse
In Madagascar, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to examine the relative impact of district-level ("top-down"), subdistrict-level, and school-level ("bottom-up") interventions on teacher behavior and student test scores. Results show that intervening at the district or subdistrict levels had minimal impact, while intervening at the school level significantly improved student test...
Political Economy & Governance
Combating Corruption in Community Development in Indonesia
Top-down audits effectively reduced corruption in Indonesian village road projects, but community-level monitoring had no effect unless pains were taken to prevent control by elites.
Political Economy & Governance
Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods in Indonesia
Choosing local infrastructure projects by direct election, rather than through representatives, had a small effect on the types of projects selected but a large impact on citizen satisfaction in Indonesia.