Polio is endemic in Pakistan, and vaccination campaigns often suffer when government health workers hired to administer the vaccine underperform. Researchers introduced individualized bonus contracts to health workers to evaluate the impact of time preferences on vaccine delivery and quality of service. Relative to those with random contracts, vaccinators with tailored contracts provided significantly smoother service.

Researchers introduced two programs during peak consumption hours—text messages encouraging energy conservation for the benefit of society, or price increases—to evaluate the impact of social motivation and dynamic pricing on energy conservation. Both programs led to reductions in electricity use, but the impacts of the dynamic pricing were larger and persisted for longer than the impacts of the social motivation messages.

In Kenya, researchers are studying the impacts of a program that combines vocational training with one-time cash grants to boost youth employment and entrepreneurship.

Researchers evaluated the whether providing objective information helps jobseekers target better-suited jobs.

Researchers are evaluating the impact of temporary supplemental math teachers on girls’ numeracy skills, professional aspirations, and early career labor market outcomes.

Researchers are evaluating the impact of providing information on national rank and scholarships can reduce dropout among high-performing students.

To test this theory, researchers evaluated a multi-faceted approach aimed at improving long term income of the ultra-poor in multiple countries, including Yemen.

In the Philippines, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of an evangelical Protestant religious values and theology education program on individuals' economic and subjective wellbeing.

Using a technology-based math curriculum, researchers evaluated the impact of different incentive types—rewarding continuous effort in the classroom versus rewarding test performance—on student learning. Results indicate that effort-based incentives can be a more effective and cost-effective way of improving learning than incentives focused on test scores.

Researchers sent letters to polling stations announcing smartphone vote-tally audits to evaluate the impact of audits on electoral irregularities such as non-adherence to transparency regulations and falsified vote tallies. Relative to a comparison group, letters increased the number of polling stations posting vote tallies in accordance with the law, reduced fraudulent vote tallies, and decreased the vote share for the incumbent president.

The Graduation Approach, a model for holistic livelihoods programs, has been proven to have lasting impacts on poor families’ income, assets, food security, and mental health, but these programs can be expensive to implement. In Ghana, researchers are evaluating the impact of different variations of the Graduation program—without coaching visits, with cognitive behavioral therapy, without additional services, and a cash transfer only—on household income, consumption, assets, psychological health, and other measures of well-being.

In partnership with the Ministry of Education of Afghanistan, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to study whether mobile salary payments (MSPs) improve learning by increasing teacher attendance and morale.