In low- to middle-income countries around the world, nearly one billion people lived in urban informal settlements as of 2018. Rapid urbanization in most large African cities has led to both more people and a higher proportion of people living in informal settlements over time. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of winning the housing lottery on the demand for formal government housing, consumption, labor market outcomes, social networks, and community and public goods in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Winning the housing lottery increased demand for formal government housing: nearly 46 percent of participant households that win the lottery chose to move into their formal housing, indicating many prefer to live in government housing despite the high implicit cost that they pay to do so.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of different types of labels to signal product quality on sellers’ ability to develop a reputation for consistently selling high-quality watermelons in China. The more expensive laser-cut label influenced sellers to provide higher quality watermelons than the sticker label. The use of the laser-cut label also led to higher sales profits, whereas the cheaper sticker label had no effect on profits.

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations to test the impact of coaching teachers on integrating CAL in their elementary and middle school mathematics instruction in two large, diverse school districts in the United States. The intervention led to improved math performance in one evaluation and mixed results in the other, with test-score gains observed in classrooms with higher weekly CAL practice time.

In Nigeria, researchers worked with a financial service provider to evaluate the impact of digital loans on welfare. Being approved for the loans increased subjective well-being after three months, for applicants who normally would have been denied.

Researchers used survey data to evaluate short-term outcomes for Boston’s SYEP participants in 2015. They found that the program significantly improved participants’ community engagement and social skills, many job readiness skills, and some academic aspirations.