Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of reducing the psychological costs of job applications, such as the tendency to postpone applications because completing a task today seems more burdensome than tomorrow, on job application rates and interviews in Lahore, Pakistan. The intervention, which involved follow-up calls inviting job seekers to apply for jobs, increased the number of job applications and interviews. The benefits of applying to jobs were similar after the increase in applications, suggesting that psychological costs play an important role in job search behavior.

Fertilizer use has been promoted to boost agricultural productivity and increase farmers’ yields and income. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation among rice farmers in Bangladesh to evaluate the impact of providing leaf color charts and basic training on the quantity and timing of fertilizer use and crop yields. Fertilizer use declined while yield moderately increased for farmers.

Researchers partnered with local agencies in King County, Washington to evaluate the impact of providing transit subsidies on rates of FTA in court. While the study was disrupted due to Covid-19, the pilot results indicated that transit subsidies had little effect on reducing FTA.

In partnership with the Liberia National Red Cross Society, researchers evaluated a holistic approach to reducing IPV, in which vulnerable women received intensive psychosocial support and vocational skills training. The program reduced physical and emotional IPV; it also increased participants’ employment hours and expenditures.

Researchers are evaluating the impact of providing information about the risks and outcomes of irregular migration through door-to-door campaigns and social networks on actual migration decisions in Nigeria.

Researchers organized Election Day festivals to evaluate how a more festive and social voting atmosphere might impact voter turnout. Voting rates were significantly higher in precincts where festivals occurred than in comparison precincts.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to improve the quality of job matches in South Africa. They matched applicants to entry-level vacancies using different types of information: workers’ preferences for job types; communication and socio-emotional skills; or grades and work experience.

Researchers evaluated the impact of direct mail and phone calls on the turnout of Black voters in ten different states. Neither mailings nor phone calls significantly impacted voter turnout, perhaps due to the large volume of political messaging that voters had to navigate.

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.

In low- to middle-income countries around the world, nearly one billion people lived in urban informal settlements as of 2018. Rapid urbanization in most large African cities has led to both more people and a higher proportion of people living in informal settlements over time. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of winning the housing lottery on the demand for formal government housing, consumption, labor market outcomes, social networks, and community and public goods in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Winning the housing lottery increased demand for formal government housing: nearly 46 percent of participant households that win the lottery chose to move into their formal housing, indicating many prefer to live in government housing despite the high implicit cost that they pay to do so.

In Uganda, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing a soft skills certificate to both employers and job seekers during job interviews on matching in the labor market. The certificates caused workers to increase their expectations of finding the right job, while high-ability managers were more likely to have a positive assessment of workers’ skills.

Researchers evaluated a program delivering digital aid payments on food security and mental well-being for vulnerable female-headed households in Afghanistan. Digital payments led to improved food security and mental well-being for beneficiaries. Digital delivery of aid was also cost-effective and transparent, showing no evidence of diversion to the de facto Afghan authorities.