Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of the ways in which information dissemination within social networks affected farmers’ adoption of a weather insurance product in rural China. Results suggest that social networks had a significantly positive effect on insurance take-up, driven by the diffusion of knowledge about insurance. These effects were larger when people who were the first to receive financial education were more central to the social network.

In Argentina, a researcher evaluated whether informing students of their potential could be a cost-effective way to increase motivation and improve educational outcomes among secondary school students. They found that the intervention did not impact students’ perceptions of the difficulty of school tasks, school climate, academic performance, or future education plans.

Researchers tested the independent impact of two channels, social learning (when someone purchases an asset after a peer expresses a desire to purchase the same asset) and social utility (when someone feels he can gain more from an asset because his peer owns it), on financial decisions in Brazil. Both social learning and social utility had significant effects on decisions to invest in a newly designed real estate asset.

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations to test 1) the impact of providing public spending information on voter attitudes and 2) the impact of cash transfers on parental preferences for education.

Researchers evaluated a cap-and-trade program in the United States to determine if the initial allocation of permits among firms affected how much firms decided to pollute. Evidence was consistent with, but not proof of, the economic theory that firms make decisions to reduce emissions based on their abatement costs and not the initial distribution of permits.

In developing countries, public worker absence is a key obstacle to delivering services to the poor. This problem may occur when politicians reward their supporters with public sector jobs, making it difficult for communities to hold public servants accountable. Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of a smartphone absence monitoring technology in reducing doctor absenteeism at clinics in Punjab, Pakistan. The application increased clinic inspections, but the increased monitoring and accompanying reduction in absenteeism was limited to constituencies where competition for political office was comparatively high.

Many smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa do not use basic agricultural technologies to improve crop quality. In the Senegal River Valley, researchers tested whether receiving advance information on a market reform—introducing quality labels for onions and selling by weight—would lead to changes in farmers’ production habits. Onion farmers who received information about the reform were more likely to adopt practices to improve quality, leading to substantial revenue gains. Despite these gains, the reforms were abandoned in the following season, largely due to opposition from traders.

Researchers partnered with CGIAR’s International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to evaluate the impact of a flood-resistant rice variety on fertilizer use and crop yield in India. During floods, the flood tolerant seeds had a clear advantage over the traditional seeds. In non-flooded areas, there was no significant difference in yields between flood-resistant and traditional seeds, suggesting that there was no yield penalty in non-flood years to farmers who switched to the new seed technology.

Researchers evaluated the relationship between mobile money usage and violence in Afghanistan. Results suggest that access to a mobile salary payment system increased mobile money usage, but expectations of violence significantly decreased usage and increased cash savings instead.

Researchers evaluated the impact of a program in Sierra Leone called Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) that aims to address this problem by bundling health education, vocational skills training, and micro-credit. Researchers found that, while girls experienced higher teen pregnancy and lower school attendance post-Ebola, ELA clubs mitigated many of these negative effects.

Researchers combined subsidized weather index insurance with input loans for fertilizer and modern seed use for smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia to investigate the impact of these products on demand for insurance and resulting shifts in agricultural technology use and crop yields. Results indicate that providing free insurance may not result in meaningful increases in investment in inputs like fertilizer.

Researchers evaluated the impact on student learning outcomes of two programs introduced by the Government of Haryana. While the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) program did not have any effect on test scores, the Learning Enhancement Program (LEP), which focused on basic literacy and numeracy, significantly improved Hindi test scores, especially for students with initially low learning levels.

Buyers often have limited information on service quality in low- and middle-income countries. In the absence of information, buyers may receive low quality services or may choose not to seek out service at all, limiting potential benefits for households. Researchers evaluated a program in Pakistan that provided farmers with information on veterinarians’ artificial insemination (AI) success rates and average prices. This led to more successful inseminations without a rise in AI prices.