Researchers provided small one-time grants to microenterprises in Sri Lanka to measure the impact of the additional capital on business profits two and five years later. They found that cash and in-kind grants increased business profits for male owners in the short and long term, but did not lead to an increase in business profits for female business owners.

Much economic activity in low-income countries takes place through cooperative or collective organizations. Researchers in the Indian state of Karnataka conducted a randomized evaluation to study whether collective incentive payments to village cooperatives of dairy farmers could increase milk quality by reducing microbial contamination. Incentive payments increased cleanliness and point to the importance of leadership and social networks in cooperative production. However, a third of cooperative managers declined payments when they had to publicly disclose them.