The researcher used a randomised evaluation in Kenya and Uganda to study the impact of varying access to information about prices in buying and selling markets, and encouraged informal traders to enter new markets and take advantage of price differences.

Identifying and training effective managers is crucial for improving both firm productivity and worker well-being. Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of different combinations of managerial screening and training tools on business and worker well-being outcomes.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation among households in rural Burkina Faso to examine whether countries in sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing a slower shift in fertility levels due to lack of access to contraception or households wanting large families. Providing married women with access to free contraception did not reduce birth rates, even when it was paired with information to correct misconceptions about child mortality or village meetings or an edutainment film aimed at ensuring exposure to a diversity of views about family size and modern contraception.

In Egypt, a sizable portion of the prison population is incarcerated solely for failing to repay private debts, highlighting serious concerns about the social, economic, and legal consequences of debtor imprisonment. Researchers are conducting two randomized evaluations, the first tests the impact of paying off the debts of incarcerated individuals on their post-release outcomes. The second study examines how the threat of imprisonment affects moral hazards and adverse selection in credit markets.

Researchers evaluated the impact of Padua, a holistic, individualized, wrap-around support program for individuals who have recently experienced a negative economic shock. Exploratory analyses suggest that Padua impacted housing and employment outcomes specific to participants’ individual needs.

Researchers evaluated the impact of group discussions and rights messaging through videos on hiring discrimination against transgender workers in India. Individuals who engaged in group discussions were more likely to hire transgender individuals.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of an in-school remedial education program on student learning in Odisha, India. Both the standard and a version that allowed teacher flexibility improved student test scores without reducing grade- level mastery or affecting the likelihood of passing exams.

Researchers evaluated the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and cash transfers on functional impairment (or difficulty performing daily tasks), depression, and food security among adults 55 and older living alone in Tamil Nadu, India. At a three-week follow-up, cash transfers improved participants’ reported ability to perform daily tasks and led to a small decline in depression, while neither CBT nor the combination of the two impacted these outcomes.

researchers are evaluating the impact of CBFM on farmers’ agricultural productivity, adoption of modern technology, rural livelihoods, and forest conservation.

In Kananga, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a subsidized land titling program on both starting and completing land registration, as well as on citizens’ participation in social institutions. Being offered a land titling subsidy substantially increased the number of citizens who began the property registration process and obtained a land title, while decreasing participation in social institutions and worsening citizens’ evaluations of chiefs.

Researchers conducted long-term follow-ups a mass school-based deworming program in western Kenya, which had substantially improved health and school participation of treated children, as well as of untreated children in treatment schools and children in neighboring schools in the short-term. Approximately ten years after treatment, researchers found that the program increased women’s educational attainment and men’s labor supply, with accompanying shifts in occupation choice. Twenty years after treatment, earnings, spending, and time spent working outside of agriculture had improved.

Child marriage remains prevalent in many countries despite laws prohibiting the practice, leading to negative health and education outcomes for young women and their children. Researchers evaluated the impacts of an incentive program and an adolescent empowerment program on child marriage, teenage childbearing, and level of education in rural Bangladesh. Financial incentives conditional on delayed marriage reduced child marriage and teenage childbearing, and increased girls’ level of education. The empowerment program, on the other hand, did not succeed in delaying marriage.

In India, researchers evaluated the impact of the first emissions trading scheme for particulate matter on air quality, industry compliance costs, and industry profits. Compliance with the market was high, and participating firms substantially reduced their particulate matter emissions without large increases in abatement costs, suggesting that the emissions trading scheme was a cost-effective pollution reduction strategy