Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of being offered a summer job through Philadelphia’s WorkReady program on outcomes related to criminal justice involvement, employment, and education.

Making electricity and learning materials in students’ native language more widely available in schools may be beneficial to student learning, but existing evidence is sparse. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of school electrification, delivered alongside mixed-language digital educational materials, on student exam scores and pass rates. They found that neither increased electricity access nor learning material in their native language improved students’ academic performance.

Billions of dollars in government funds go missing each year due to corruption, but there is limited consensus on how best to tackle this global challenge. Researchers leveraged data from Brazil’s long-standing anticorruption program, which holds public lotteries to randomly select municipalities for audit. These government audits, aimed at uncovering the misuse of public resources, reduced corruption by promoting both electoral and judicial accountability.

Researchers are working with the City of Rochester and local social service providers to evaluate the Bridges to Success program, in which participants are paired with mentors who help them move towards economic self-sufficiency.

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations to test the impacts of providing customized information on predicted case outcomes or conciliation services on labor court settlement rates in Mexico. Both interventions nearly doubled the immediate settlement rate, but only when the plaintiff was there to personally receive the information, and evidence suggests that the interventions increased payments to workers.