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In Sierra Leone, researchers are testing whether price subsidies and agricultural extension training can reduce the costs of early adoption, and whether using the improved seed varieties will ultimately benefit poor farmers.

A common strategy for increasing school attendance is to offer cash rewards or other incentives to households, usually to the parents, when their children attend or perform well in school. In Gurgaon, India, researchers tested whether giving education incentives to parents or children influenced the...

Researchers analyzed the impact of a program that provided students in California with a home computer on students’ academic achievement. The program had no effect (either positive or negative) on any educational outcome, including grades, standardized test scores, and attendance.

In Nicaragua, researchers compared the cognitive and health outcomes of boys whose families received conditional cash transfers in the first three years of their lives to those who received the transfers later. Exposing boys to the program during the first 1,000 days of life led to better cognitive...

This study evaluated the efficacy of three different types of emails in encouraging group membership: an impersonal email, a personalized email, and a personalized email that included an element of social pressure. Researchers found that membership increased most among recipients of the social...

Researchers examined the effects of personal canvassing, phone calls, and direct mail on voter turnout shortly before the 1998 general election in the US city of New Haven. Personal canvassing had a far greater influence on voter participation than three pieces of professionally crafted mail...

In Tanzania, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of factory employment and different compensation schemes on gender differences in labor market outcomes, taste for competition, and views on social and gender norms.

Researchers evaluated the impact of mailings that informed people with a record of felony conviction of their eligibility to vote on political participation. The mailing increased political participation, particularly among individuals that were active voters prior to incarceration.