This evaluation tests the impacts of providing larger loans to microcredit borrowers on both firms and microfinance institutions.

Researchers are partnering with a financial institution in Paraguay to evaluate the impact of a range of tablet-based applications, which remind people to save and help them make savings goals, on savings behavior of low-income individuals.

In rural Uganda, researchers evaluated whether videos encouraging communities to speak out against violence against women (VAW) could change behavior, attitudes, and norms. Women exposed to the videos were more willing to report VAW to authorities. More broadly, women in villages where the videos were screened experienced less VAW in their household.

Researchers added school-quality information onto housing listings on the AffordableHousing.com (formerly GoSection8) website, the largest provider of housing listings for HCV recipients, to evaluate the impact on families search for housing and their residential locations. The researchers found that access to information changed where families chose to move, with families moving to neighborhoods with higher-rated, more racially-diverse schools.

In an ongoing study, researchers are testing whether a subsidized employment program for low-income adults with less than a high school degree in Michigan can improve employment opportunities and earnings while reducing public benefit receipt.

Researchers examined the impact of bundled payments on Medicare spending, utilization, and quality of care for knee and hip replacements, two common and expensive medical procedures. Evidence from the first year of implementation of a five-year mandatory bundled payment model showed a reduction in health care utilization, but no evidence of an impact on health care quality, the volume of patients treated, or the mix of patients treated.

MDRC partnered with NYC Opportunity, the NYC Human Resources Administration and Food Bank for NYC to design, implement, and evaluate the program. MDRC researchers found that three years of Paycheck Plus in New York City increased income, employment, tax credit receipt, and payment of child support. Research on Paycheck Plus at a second site in Atlanta is still ongoing.

A randomized evaluation of the text alert program showed that the intervention reduced course failures, increased class attendance and improved in-class exam scores. The effects are larger for students with below-average GPAs and students in high school, and positive effects persist into the second year of the intervention for these groups. Results suggest low-cost parent engagement interventions can have an impact on student achievement.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impacts of the Khan Academy’s online platform on math scores in Brazilian public schools. Despite improving student’s attitudes towards math, the program had mixed impact on students’ test scores depending on program implementation and school infrastructure.

While many low-income Americans have costly debt, they typically spend only a small proportion of their tax rebates to repay those debts. In partnership with Baltimore CASH, researchers are introducing postcards that encourage low-income tax filers to use their tax rebates to pay off debt, and varying the timing of postcard delivery, to evaluate the impact of these nudges on debt repayment.

Researchers are evaluating the effect of farmer training program that highlights a balanced approach combining chemical fertilizers with labor-intensive agricultural practices on cowpea farmers' yields in Burkina Faso.