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.

Researchers tested whether discussions between candidates and voters can help bridge this gap and increase voter turnout, leveraging a volunteer and candidate canvassing campaign in the 2014 Italian municipal elections. While canvassing by volunteers increased voter turnout, canvassing by political candidates surprisingly had no effect on voter turnout and very little effect on voter persuasion.

Employees may value alternative work arrangements like flexible scheduling and working from home and dislike schedules that vary from week to week on short notice. However, there is little evidence on how much these alternative work arrangements actually matter to employees. Researchers gave US job applicants choices over positions with randomly-determined wages to determine how much applicants valued these options. They found that the average worker valued the option to work from home but did not value scheduling flexibility. Furthermore, workers strongly disliked employers setting their schedules on short notice and preferred not to work nights or weekends.

Researchers partnered with the Honduran government to evaluate the impact of replacing textbooks with laptops on student learning. Using laptops resulted in no change in learning outcomes, suggesting that laptops could be a cost-effective substitute to textbooks if they can replace enough textbooks.

Researchers evaluated a computer-based adaptive learning platform (Mindspark) for secondary school students in urban India to measure the impact of customized learning technology on student test scores. The program increased test scores across all groups of students and was cost-effective compared to traditional schooling models.

A lack of access to finance can impede the potential for growth among small firms. To meet this finance gap and to encourage high-growth entrepreneurship, governments and multilateral agencies throughout the developing world often directly fund small and medium enterprises. Governments, however, have little guidance when it comes to choosing the firms with growth potential, and making sure that limited funds are targeted where they will spur the most growth. In Mexico, researchers are evaluating the impact of providing government funding to small enterprises, and whether different types of selection panels are more effective at selecting firms with high growth potential.

This study examines how reminders to file taxes affect tax filing decisions among low-income individuals who did not appear on a filed tax return. The results of two randomized evaluations demonstrate that one-time reminders increase tax filing—both to claim tax refunds as well as to voluntarily pay balances owed to the IRS.

Poor infrastructure, limited access to medicine, poor service provision, and a lack of accountability often lead to poor health outcomes in many developing countries. Researchers conducted a lab-in-the-field randomized experiment to evaluate patients’ willingness to file complaints against service providers and provider responsiveness to those complaints. Attaching tangible consequences to patient complaints increased provider performance as compared to providing a complaint box.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing information to students on enrollment at different quality schools. Students who were provided information applied to and enrolled in different types of schools. However, overall a greater number of students did not enroll in school despite receiving information.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a savings lockbox, or SMS reminders, on household saving, spending, and the ability to cope with negative shocks in rural Niger. Take-up and usage of the lockbox were high, and while the lockbox intervention did not affect overall saving or spending, it helped households cope with the negative effects of a health shock. Conversely, there were no additional effects of the SMS reminders.

In partnership with the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), researchers are providing report cards that document citizen satisfaction with a range of public services to various levels of government officials to measure the impact of information and accountability on public service provision.

Researchers are conducting a lab-in-the-field study to measure the impact of a community-driven development program in Bangladesh on participants’ preferences and values about fairness, equity, civic engagement, and participatory decision-making.

In partnership with the Government of Indonesia, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to compare the efficacy of vouchers versus in-kind transfers in reducing poverty and improving program delivery. The reform led to an increase in assistance received by eligible households, due to improved targeting. As a result, poverty fell by 20 percent among the poorest households.