Evaluations

To study the employment limitation of microenterprises, researchers offered microentrepreneurs capital to incentivize them to hire workers. Results showed that a wage subsidy did not lead to lasting increases in employment sales or profits.

In Mexico, researchers are testing whether this lagging productivity could be due to lower managerial capacity. They found that providing subsidized managerial consulting to Mexican SMEs boosted their productivity and hiring.

Researchers conducted a business plan competition to test whether panel judges or questionnaires answered by firm owners could more accurately identify the fastest growing firms in Ghana. Both survey assessments and judging of business plans through panels selected firms with the potential for...

Researchers are partnering with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) to identify barriers to a wider market for consulting and training in Bangladesh by offering high-quality manufacturing training services at randomly-assigned price points and covering different topics. They find...

In Sri Lanka, researchers provided wage subsidies to randomly chosen microenterprises to determine if they would hire more workers, and whether the additional labor would benefit such firms. The study found that while firms increased employment during the subsidy period, there was no lasting impact...

To better understand the connection between BTB policies and racial discrimination in hiring, researchers tested the impact of applicant race and criminal history on hiring decisions both before and after BTB policies came into effect in New Jersey and New York City. The results confirmed that...

Researchers working with a large apparel maker in Bangladesh are evaluating the impact of phone call reminders sharing information about their employer’s support for workers to use their company's paid sick leave to increase worker retention.