Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation testing the impact of monthly cash transfers of $1,000 to low-income individuals in Texas and Illinois on household expenditures, debts and assets, and financial health. The study found that receiving the cash transfer increased spending by $310 per month, primarily on expenses related to housing, food, and cars.

Supporting women’s empowerment, the ability for women to control their resources and make their own choices, is a common policy goal both as its own outcome and as a vehicle to drive other change like improving children’s health and education. Many empowerment programs have targeted women’s income generating abilities, though fewer programs have attempted to provide ways for women to retain control over their existing resources. Researchers collaborated with the NGO BRAC to conduct a randomized evaluation to test the impact of encouraging women microfinance clients to make weekly loan repayments with mobile money instead of cash on their wider use of mobile money services and their empowerment. Encouraging women to use mobile money for loan repayment led them to increase its use for repayment and other transactions, like savings, and increased their empowerment; however, it did not increase their business profits or sales.

Researchers leveraged existing randomization to evaluate the impact of ERA programs during the pandemic in four urban areas in the United States on measures of housing stability, financial security, and mental health. Receipt of rental assistance increased rent payment in the short term and modestly improved self-reported mental health. However, it had limited impacts on housing stability and financial security.

Workers with criminal records face substantially lower chances of securing employment compared to similar workers without such records. Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of different approaches, including wage subsidies, crime and safety insurance, past performance reviews, criminal record history, and objective information on worker performance, on managers’ willingness to hire people with criminal records. The study found that policies which directly addressed hiring managers’ concerns about productivity and risk effectively increased demand for workers with criminal records.