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Changing Beliefs, Changing Bribes in India

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to study the effect of changing legal penalties, along with citizens’ beliefs about these penalties, on corruption and lawbreaking in India.

Encouraging the Use of Formal Financial Services of Garment Workers through the Rollout of an Electronic Payment System in Bangladesh

Martin Kanz
Leora Klapper
Researchers randomly assigned employees at garment factories in Bangladesh to either continue collecting their wages in cash, receive direct deposit wage payments into a payroll account, or receive an account but continued to receive wage payments in cash. Exposure to payroll accounts led to...

Migration Subsidies and Rural Labor Markets in Bangladesh

Researchers varied the proportion of travel grants offered to landless households in rural villages in Bangladesh to assess the impact of the grants on temporary migration and income during the agricultural lean season—one of the hardest economic times of the year due to drops in food affordability...

Can Mobile Phones Improve Take-up and Delivery of Maternal Cash Transfer Programs in India?

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test whether a phone-based information service can increase take-up of India’s maternity cash transfer programs, and whether phone-based feedback can improve local-level program functioning and child health. Research ongoing; Results forthcoming.

Improving Third-Party Audits and Regulatory Compliance in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of a reform to the pollution audit system in India, making auditors more independent, on the truthfulness of their reporting and the behavior of the firms they audited. Increasing their independence made them more likely to report the truth about industrial plants’...