Researchers in Chile compared the effects of self-help peer groups and text-message feedback on entrepreneurs’ ability to make regular deposits into a savings account. Receiving feedback by text message increased savings by almost as much as being a member of a self-help group, suggesting that the physical aspect of self-help groups may not be as important as previously thought.

Researchers examined the effects of free savings account access on savings account use, indebtedness, consumption, and well-being. Easy access to savings accounts reduced participants’ reliance on borrowing, helped them manage fluctuations in income, and increased their self-reported well-being.

The Value Added Tax (VAT) system, which generates a paper trail on transactions between firms, facilitated tax enforcement by spreading the impact of enforcement measures up the production chain in a study with over 400,000 firms in Chile.

Researchers partnered with the largest public bank in Guatemala to measure the impact of light-touch financial products, such as reminders and suggested ‘default’ savings contribution levels, on the savings behavior of microfinance borrowers. Clients who were prompted to save through default contribution requirements and monthly reminders made more deposits and accumulated greater savings than clients who only had access to a basic savings account.

Researchers ran a large randomized credit information training program that described the existence and workings of the bureau to the clients of this lender. The results indicate that the credit bureau generated large efficiency gains for the lender, and that these gains were augmented when borrowers understood the rules of the game.

In Malawi, researchers tested the relative effects of providing conditional and unconditional cash transfers to teenage girls and their families. Among girls enrolled in school at the start of the program, conditional cash transfers increased school attendance and reduced HIV prevalence while unconditional transfers were more effective in helping girls delay marriage and childbearing in the short-term. Improvements among the unconditional cash transfer group quickly dissipated, while conditional cash transfer beneficiaries who had dropped out of school before the program experienced sustained improvements in educational attainment, marriage, and fertility outcomes two years after transfers ended.

Working in Botswana, researchers rapidly evaluated a phone-based remote learning program aimed at keeping children engaged with math during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students who received weekly SMS messages and phone calls to review math exercises increased their math skills after twelve weeks, while students who received only SMS messages did not.

Town hall meetings in Benin reduced the ability of the most popular presidential candidate in that village to garner political support using clientelist tactics, and still appear to be effective for motivating people to attend the polls.

Trade credit, which is usually provided by up-stream suppliers to down-stream firms, can help small businesses to purchase non-perishable goods for resale and free up resources for other uses. However, provision of trade credit may be limited by high transaction costs, up-stream liquidity constraints, and concerns over repayment. In Kenya, researchers are evaluating the impact of a new method of extending trade credit facilitated by mobile banking and inventory management technologies on small business development.

Researchers assessed the impact of a recreational tutoring program on students’ academic achievements and interest for school work provided by the NGO Apfee. Researchers found that children identified as falling behind by their teachers in schools where the tutoring program was offered did not improve their reading or math skills, although they developed a taste for reading and academic subjects. These results hold two years after the implementation of the program.

Researchers tested a fee-for-service scheme, a type of performance pay, at health facilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to evaluate its impact on health service utilization. While fee-for-service facilities invested more effort in attracting patients, this increase did not translate into higher levels of service utilization or better health outcomes. Additionally, health workers in fee-for-service facilities became less intrinsically motivated and less satisfied with their jobs compared to their counterparts in fixed payment facilities.

In Ghana, researchers evaluated the impact of performance pay on worker productivity. They found that neither individual nor group incentives impacted productivity, work quality, or firm profitability.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test how informal insurance within Indian sub-castes affected the demand for formal rainfall insurance, and subsequent risk-taking among households employed in agriculture. Informal insurance both increased and decreased the demand for formal rainfall insurance, depending on the extent to which informal and formal insurance covered individual losses.