Search our database of 1178 randomized evaluations conducted by our affiliates in 95 countries. To browse summaries of key policy recommendations from a subset of these evaluations, visit the Policy Publications tab.

Displaying 1-8 of 294
A line forms outside of Banco de la Nacion

Financial Trust Workshops to Encourage Savings Behaviors in Peru

Sebastian Galiani
Paul Gertler
Camila Navajas Ahumada
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in rural Peru to assess the impact of providing a workshop designed to foster trust in banks on participants’ levels of trust, financial literacy, and saving and account use patterns of cash transfer recipients. Overall, participants who were offered the...

Mobile-izing Savings - Evaluating a Phone-Based Defined-Contribution Account

Joshua Blumenstock
Michael Callen
Tarek Ghani
Jeff Mosenkis
Beniamino Savonitto
Dimitri Berenstein
Pooja Wagh
Galen Murray
In partnership with a mobile network operator launching a new phone-based savings account, researchers evaluated the role of defaults and financial incentives on savings decisions. Two months after the launch of the phone-based savings account, the company’s employees randomly assigned a default...
Young woman holding cash in DRC

A Multifaceted Approach to Increase Women’s Empowerment in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Manuela Angelucci
Rachel Heath
Eva Noble
Researchers evaluated a multifaceted program for women experiencing extreme poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a region facing protracted conflict. The intervention had positive and enduring effects on women’s consumption, employment, finances, and empowerment, and small positive impacts...
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Cash and Compliance with Social Distancing in Ghana

The researchers aim to understand the role that digital cash transfers can play as a policy tool both to increase household resilience during the pandemic and to stem the spread of the disease by increasing adherence to social distancing in Ghana.
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Scaling Graduation Programs for the Ultra Poor: Learning where to add and where to remove components to achieve impact

Gharad Bryan
Dean Karlan
Christopher Udry
Nate Barker
Elizabeth Bradley
Angela Ofori-Atta

Roots and Remedies: Persistent poverty and violence amongst urban street youth in Liberia

Chris Blattman
Sebastian Chaskel
Julian Jamison
Margaret Sheridan
To understand the long-term effectiveness of CBT among adults, researchers evaluated the impact of a short-term CBT program and the distribution of unconditional cash transfers on the behavior of high-risk young men in Liberia. CBT reduced criminal behavior among participants both in the short run...
Street scene with fruit vendors and electronics stalls in Hyderabad, India

The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation

Abhijit Banerjee
Cynthia Kinnan
Esther Duflo
Rachel Glennerster
Emily Breza
Researchers evaluated the impact of increased access to microcredit on the economic and social well-being of women and their families in Hyderabad, India. They found that microcredit had mixed effects on business activities and little to no effect on women’s empowerment or children’s education.
Women in Kataek, Uganda, make cloths to sell in small-scale trading.

Improving Women’s Labor and Welfare Outcomes through Microfinance in Uganda

Oriana Bandiera
Robin Burgess
Erika Deserranno
Ricardo Morel
Imran Rasul
Munshi Sulaiman
Jack Thiemel
Researchers in rural Western Uganda tested whether a microfinance program can help women borrowers switch out of subsistence agriculture to other labor activities, such as entrepreneurship or small-scale trading. While microloans helped women switch into service-based jobs including small-scale...