Evaluations

Researchers are working with a large bank in the Philippines, using random assignment to offer loans to SME applicants who fall just below the threshold to be automatically approved for a loan. Comparing firms that received the loans to a similar group that did not will allow for a better...

Researchers assessed the impact of financial incentives and peer endorsement on mobile banking adoption and formal savings in Ghana. While financial incentives boosted adoption by 50 percent, peer endorsement was twice as effective, leading to sustained mobile banking use and a 30 percent increase...

Supporting women’s empowerment, the ability for women to control their resources and make their own choices, is a common policy goal both as its own outcome and as a vehicle to drive other change like improving children’s health and education. Many empowerment programs have targeted women’s income...

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether encouraging entrepreneurs to raise their aspirations helped them improve their financial decisions and outcomes. The aspirations training led individuals to set higher savings goals, but most participants failed to achieve their goals.

Researchers are evaluating the impact of improved microcredit loan design on its take-up, as well as the welfare and business conditions of borrowers.

Researchers investigated the impact of a new product that allowed Kenyans to invest small amounts of money in low-risk, high-return infrastructure bonds using their mobile phones. However, lack of awareness and low product take-up, triggered by logistical issues during implementation and a pending...

Researchers will evaluate the impact of the program on the employees’ financial decisions related to credit, savings, and money management.

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations in India in which they identified effective individuals for information sharing ("gossips") through word-of-mouth. They found that information was disseminated more widely when shared by individuals nominated by others in their community, rather than...