Recent studies have found that summer youth employment programs appear to generate large declines in the rates of violent crime—a significant finding for urban policymakers seeking to create safer, more vibrant cities.

In partnership with a local dairy cooperative, researchers utilized a combination of evaluations and surveys to measure dairy farmers’ responses to various price and timing incentives. They found that farmers willingly declined daily payments at higher milk prices in favor of monthly payments at lower prices, a practice that allowed them to save and acted as a commitment device to meet their saving goals.

Can media campaigns increase voter turnout among those underrepresented in the electorate? Researchers randomly assigned areas covered by Native American radio programming to either receive or not receive targeted radio messaging encouraging listeners to vote in the 2008 and 2010 US elections. The results suggest positive, but statistically insignificant impacts of the radio messaging on voter turnout among Native Americans. Researchers identified radio targeting as a potentially cost-effective way to encourage ethnic minorities to vote.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a large, information-only intervention about tax credits and financial aid for college on college application and enrollment. Information about tax credits did not influence reenrollment, reapplication, or enrollment, even for students who had viewed the informational emails about tax credits for college.

Researchers evaluated the impact of making voter registration easier on voter participation by providing information about voter registration and home registration visits. Overall, the results suggest that information and visits can encourage greater participation, particularly among groups that face social and economic barriers to registering and voting.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a general voter outreach effort on the political participation of immigrants relative to participation of non-immigrants. The canvassing treatment increased voter turnout of immigrants without affecting turnout of non-immigrants.