Evaluations

Policy Publications

Search our database of policy briefcases, bulletins, and evidence reviews. Briefcases summarize the results and policy recommendations from one randomized evaluation, while bulletins synthesize the broader policy lessons emerging from multiple evaluations on the same topic. Evidence reviews summarize an existing academic literature review, like a handbook chapter or white paper, for a policy audience.

Displaying 55-63 of 80

The Power of Information in Community Monitoring

Last Updated:
Last Updated:
July 1, 2015
A community-based monitoring program in Uganda led to large and sustained increases in health care utilization and improvements in child health. The key to success was providing communities with information on the performance of local health care providers.
Women and children sell product in an open market in the Philippines.

Where Credit is Due

Last Updated:
Last Updated:
May 26, 2015
Seven randomized evaluations from around the world show that microcredit does not have a transformative impact on poverty, but it can give low-income households more freedom in optimizing the ways they make money, consume, and invest.

Moving to Opportunity

Last Updated:
Last Updated:
May 1, 2015
Neighborhoods matter for the well-being of residents. Helping families with young children living in high-poverty housing projects to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods improves the later-life outcomes for the children and may reduce the intergenerational persistence of poverty.

After the Transfers Stop

Last Updated:
Last Updated:
June 30, 2014
  • Norbert Schady
  • Renos Vakis
  • Tania Barham
  • John Maluccio
Cash transfers directed to female caregivers in Nicaragua led to gains in child-development outcomes that persisted beyond the duration of the program.

Community Grants for the Next Generation

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Last Updated:
May 19, 2014
Community block grants improved health and education in Indonesian villages, and adding performance incentives sped up improvements in health.

Innovation, Inclusion and Trust: The Role of Non-Profit Organizations in Microfinance

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Last Updated:
January 22, 2014
If microcredit, as traditionally implemented, is being done just as well by for-profits, where to for non-profits? Dean Karlan lays out three important roles that non-profits can play in the financial inclusion arena.

Truth-Telling in Third-Party Audits

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Last Updated:
October 9, 2013
Changing the market for environmental audits to incentivize accurate reporting in Gujarat, India made auditors more likely to report the truth about industrial plants’ pollution levels. In response, industrial plants polluted less.
A young adult repairs a desktop computer.

Job Placement and Displacement

Last Updated:
Last Updated:
April 1, 2013
Career counseling for young, college-educated job seekers in France helped them find work sooner, but this improvement came at the expense of jobs for those who did not receive counseling, and it did not translate into a long-term increase in employment rates.

Cleaner Water at the Source

Last Updated:
Last Updated:
September 1, 2012
Protecting naturally occurring springs with simple infrastructure significantly improved source water quality and reduced the incidence of diarrhea in young children by one-quarter.