Evaluations

Researchers are working with Innovations for Poverty Action to study the effects of behavioral "nudges" that encourage teachers to enroll in loan forgiveness programs on program enrollment, teacher retention, and household finance.

Researchers are evaluating the impact of making environmental inspections of high-polluting industrial plants more frequent and removing regulator discretion in selecting plants for inspection on regulatory compliance and pollution emissions in Gujarat, India.

Entrepreneurs in developing countries face a number of barriers to expanding their businesses and employing more workers, including limited access to credit and other financial services. In Colombia, researchers are investigating whether a regulatory reform that allows small and medium enterprises...

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia to measure whether generating social connections between manufacturing firm managers could lead to the diffusion and adoption of best business practices. These social interactions led to the spread of best practices...

Researchers worked with the Malawi Social Action Fund to conduct a randomized evaluation of the program’s effect on food security. They found no evidence that the program improved food security, and there were some indications that the program decreased the food security of non-beneficiaries living...

Researchers are evaluating the effect of farmer training program that highlights a balanced approach combining chemical fertilizers with labor-intensive agricultural practices on cowpea farmers' yields in Burkina Faso.

In Ethiopia, researchers tested whether linking microcredit and family planning services could increase contraceptive use more than either program in isolation. Neither the linked program nor the isolated programs had any detectable impact on contraceptive awareness, use, or intention to use.

In India, researchers randomly assigned microfinance clients to monthly or weekly meeting schedules to test whether more frequent meetings could build social capital. They found that weekly meetings lead to higher levels of social interaction that continued beyond the initial loan cycle, which...