Researchers evaluated whether giving traditional birth attendants (TBAs) cash incentives for maternal postnatal referrals can increase uptake of skilled maternal postnatal care. Cash rewards increased referrals made by TBAs by 182 percent and more than tripled the proportion of clients that attended postnatal care. However, clients of incentivized TBAs were still much less likely to receive postnatal care compared to mothers delivering in a health facility, suggesting that other potential barriers may prevent women from seeking and accessing care.

In western Rwanda, researchers evaluated the impact of community health clubs on household take-up of healthy behaviors and on the health of children under 5 years of age. The program had minimal impact on household behaviors and no impact on caregiver-reported rates of diarrhea among children under five.

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation of a subsidized housing assistance program for refugees in Jordan to assess its impact on their economic outcomes, psychological well-being, long-term migration decisions, and social integration into their host community.

Researchers studied the impact of acknowledging and refuting stigma on take-up of labor market assistance programs. The results of three randomized evaluations indicated that mentioning stigma, even with the aim of dispelling it, generally reduced take-up of these programs.

Young job seekers in many countries face higher rates of unemployment, underemployment, and unstable employment than older groups, caused in part by information barriers. Researchers conducted an evaluation to test the impact of LinkedIn training on labor market outcomes for young, low-income job seekers in South Africa. Providing LinkedIn training increased end-of-program employment rates by 10 percent (7 percentage points), with effects persisting for twelve months.

In Bangladesh, researchers partnered with BRAC to evaluate the impact of repayment flexibility in loan contracts for microentrepreneurs. Repayment flexibility benefited traditional microfinance borrowers primarily through the provision of insurance, enabling riskier investments at lower default rates.

In partnership with the Latvian tax authority, researchers tested several types of emails to investigate the effect of behaviorally-informed messages on tax compliance. Messages that aimed to deter bad behavior by highlighting taxpayers’ moral obligations towards action increased on-time tax declaration submissions. In contrast, messages meant to induce social pressure did not increase on-time compliance, though they increased overall submission rates (i.e., the submission of on-time as well as late declarations).