Search our database of 1,200+ summaries of randomized evaluations conducted by our affiliates in 98 countries. To browse key policy recommendations from a subset of these evaluations, visit the Policy Publications tab above.

Displaying 9-16 of 77
farmer holding a basket on his head and a cell phone in his hand

Reducing Job Search Costs with an SMS-based Messaging App in Rural Tanzania

Dahyeon Jeong
The researcher conducted a randomized evaluation in rural Tanzania to determine the impact of an SMS-based messaging app that connects agricultural workers and employers on wages. He found that the SMS-based messaging app reduced wage spread within villages–meaning employers paid a wage closer to...
Woman on cell phone in Nigeria.

Information Provision via Mobile Phones to Increase Mobile Banking in Ghana

Emma Riley
Abu Shonchoy
Researchers partnered with Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited (OISL) to conduct a randomized evaluation to test the impact of high-frequency interactive voice response (IVR) calls on people’s use of mobile banking services and their financial behaviors in Ghana. People who received...
worker manufacture ethiopia

Job Fairs for Employment Matching in Ethiopia

Girum Abebe
Stefano Caria
Marcel Fafchamps
Paolo Falco
Simon Franklin
Simon Quinn
Forhad Shilpi
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of job fairs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to test the effect of face-to-face interactions between formal firms and job seekers on workers’ chances of getting a job.
J-PAL logo

The Impact of Transportation and Information Access on Women's Job Search and Employment in Pakistan

Erica Field
Robert Garlick
Nivedhitha Subramanian
Kate Vyborny
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of increased access to transportation and assistance with interview scheduling on women’s employment.
Rows of people working at industrial sewing machines

Comparing the Impacts of Industrial Jobs and Self-Employment in Ethiopia

Chris Blattman
Stefan Dercon
Simon Franklin
In Ethiopia, researchers randomly assigned mostly female jobseekers to receive an industrial job offer or an unconditional cash transfer, meant to spur self-employment. While they found positive impacts of the cash transfers on occupational choice, income, and health in the first year, these effects...
Woman in a small shop

Gazelles in Ghana: Identifying high-growth firms through panel judges or survey instruments

Marcel Fafchamps
Christopher Woodruff
Researchers conducted a business plan competition to test whether panel judges or questionnaires answered by firm owners could more accurately identify the fastest growing firms in Ghana. Both survey assessments and judging of business plans through panels selected firms with the potential for...
Two people look at a job pamphlet.

Raising Awareness about Job Training in Germany

Gerard van den Berg
Christine Dauth
Pia Homrighausen
Gesine Stephan
Researchers evaluated the effects of an information campaign on workers’ awareness of and participation in a program that subsidizes skills-building training in Germany. Results showed that the information campaign doubled workers’ awareness of the program on average, but had no effects on program...
Two sewing machines in a factory in Myanmar

Union Leaders and Factory Workers’ Collective Action in Myanmar

Labor movements can improve workers’ lives but face great difficulty in getting workers to agree on common goals and take collective actions. In garment factory workers’ group discussions on minimum wage policies in Myanmar, researchers randomly included union leaders to study whether the presence...