Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation on measuring the impact of celebrity Twitter endorsement for a child immunization campaign on the public’s opinion and behavior towards immunization. Celebrity endorsement increased Twitter engagement with the immunization campaign, primarily when celebrities authored messages themselves and did not explicitly cite credible public health sources. Celebrity endorsement led to increased communication and knowledge about health behaviors in individuals’ communities, though there was no impact on an individual’s immunization decisions for their children.

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.

Researchers are evaluating the impact of providing additional information and resources to those who have completed skills training programs on employment outcomes.

In partnership with the Association of Volunteers in International Service, researchers evaluated the impact of the Women’s Income Generating Support (WINGS) program, an initiative which provided low-income Ugandan individuals, mainly women, with financial grants, business skills training, and ongoing supervision on individuals’ economic outcomes. The WINGS program improved individuals’ earnings and access to nonfarm business opportunities in postwar Uganda.

Researchers partnered with the Ugandan government to evaluate the impact of a public private partnership (PPP) program with low-cost private secondary schools on absorbing large increases in secondary school enrollment in Uganda. The PPP program led to both greater private school enrollment and higher student performance, with improved performance potentially being linked to increased input availability and positive household-driven selection of PPP student participants.

This study in Kenya found that cost-sharing and health education were not effective alternatives to a total subsidy of deworming drugs.

Researchers analyzed outcomes from a previously conducted randomized evaluation to assess the impact of large primary school management reforms in Madagascar on student test scores, and if impacts varied by type of teacher. Results show that the management reforms did not have any impact on student test scores, regardless of teacher type.