The Evidence Effect

How LMIC governments drive and scale effective policies

A woman wearing a green head scarf stands holding a child. In the foreground is a counter with a bag of subsidized rice.

Most low- and middle-income governments invest far more in their own social programs than all foreign aid combined. While foreign assistance has been in the spotlight this year, LMIC governments have the mandate and reach to make change stick. Our partners have shown that the path to sustainable development and poverty alleviation should run through innovative and effective governments—and now more than ever, we should be learning from their efforts.

Read the third post in our Evidence Effect series

Evidence in action

The Evidence Effect highlights examples of life-changing programs that warrant more attention, investment, and consideration for scaling. Explore them below, drawn from more than 1,200 completed randomized evaluations led by researchers in our network.

Effective and fair taxation

Governments can adopt high- and low-tech approaches to raise resources through improved taxation.

Mobile phone monitoring for better government services

Phone-based monitoring is a cheap, accessible way to ensure government service providers are doing their jobs well.

An AI assistant for teachers

An AI-powered editing tool gave students personalized feedback and helped teachers spend more of their time one-on-one with students.

Helping workers get justice

Customizing information and offering mediation helped Mexico’s labor courts deliver faster, fairer resolutions for workers and led to a major national reform.

A market to clean up air pollution

How India used cap-and-trade to reduce pollution and improve health.

Giving cash with conditions

A dual strategy to alleviate poverty: Attaching conditions to cash transfers can provide immediate financial assistance while helping families invest in their children's future. 

Giving cash simply works

When low-income families receive cash with no strings attached, their lives improve in measurable ways. 

Government innovation to improve social services

Providing vulnerable households with accurate, timely information about their benefits can help improve access and increase government efficiency. 

Rethink microcredit for greater impacts

Innovations in microcredit design can improve business growth and borrower wellbeing. 

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo joint headshot

The objectives of aid are often unclear.... Reaffirming the most basic principle would provide clarity: The goal should be to invest in projects that will have the largest impact on the quality of life of poor people around the world.

—Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, The Financial Times, March 2025

Discover more perspectives from the J-PAL network

 


Photos: 

(1) Two farmers uproot rice seedlings for transplantation during monsoon season in India. Credit: Shutterstock.com

(2) A woman laughs as an enumerator measures her height in her home in Borong, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The measurement was part of an impact evaluation of an information campaign focused on preventing malnutrition. Credit: Miranda Putri, J-PAL

(3) Residents purchase rice at subsidized prices at a community hall in Jakarta, Indonesia. Credit: Wulandari Wulandari