Researchers assessed the impact of outreach on Medicaid retention; outreach messages provided a reminder to renew as well as information about how to obtain free one-on-one assistance with renewal processes from health insurance navigators. Outreach using pre-recorded calls prevented denials due to procedural reasons and increased Medicaid renewal rates by 1.0 percentage point across the full study population, by 4.0 percentage points for Tribal members, 2.1 percentage points for children, and 1.9 percentage points for people with chronic conditions.

Researchers partnered with Innovations for Poverty Action and Bangladeshi policymakers to test various strategies to increase mask-wearing and assess the impact of community mask wearing on SARS-CoV-2 infection rates. They found that a four-part intervention tripled mask usage and increased physical distancing. Further, this increase in mask-wearing reduced symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections. When surgical masks were employed, 1 in 3 symptomatic infections were avoided for individuals 60+ years old—the age group that faces the highest risk of death following infection. This was the first large-scale randomized evaluation to demonstrate the effectiveness of masks in a real-world setting.

Researchers partnered with the Government of Pakistan to conduct two parallel randomized evaluations to test the impact of providing supplemental teaching materials on the quality of student learning and teachers’ effectiveness. Overall, the eLearn Classroom intervention improved student achievement and students’ attendance for grade 8 students. Conversely, providing grade 6 students with individual eLearn Tablets worsened their test scores.

In Senegal, researchers are testing a new contract arrangement between farmers and cooperatives that includes credit, training, and a price premium for certified low-aflatoxin groundnuts on farmers’ decisions to adopt Aflasafe, aflatoxin levels, and output sales.

In partnership with three microfinance institutions (MFIs), researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of providing loans, cash grants, or in-kind grants on microentrepreneurs’ business decisions, outcomes, and overall welfare. All three types of capital assistance led to increases in business and economic outcomes, especially for women. Impacts were concentrated among the best-performing recipients of each type of assistance, and researchers found that observable characteristics were the same among those top-performers across all three groups. This suggests that personal characteristics are more important than the type of assistance in predicting the effectiveness of capital assistance.

Following a series of evaluations of the Graduation approach in 15 other countries, researchers are now evaluating the impact of the Graduation approach on the livelihoods of the ultra-poor in Upper Egypt.

Researchers worked with First Valley Bank in the Philippines to evaluate the impact of varying the interest rate and account ownership requirements on demand for commitment savings accounts. While savings account take-up was 23 percent, neither the interest rates nor the ownership requirements affected individuals’ demand for accounts.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether a performance-based repayment contract could outperform conventional microcredit contracts, or fixed-payment loans, in improving business outcomes and welfare for micro-distributors in Kenya. Micro-distributors who received flexible financing, especially a hybrid loan that adjusted payments based on earnings, had higher profits than those with fixed-payment loans. They also restocked more often, expanded their sales areas, managed their businesses better, and repaid more.

Researchers are conducting phone surveys to understand the effects of a community policing intervention on citizens' trust in the state and how that affects their willingness to comply with COVID-19 related measures in Uganda.