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Reducing Barriers to Savings in Rural Malawi

Lasse Brune
Xavier Giné
Researchers analyzed the effect of reducing barriers to saving in rural Malawi on savings behavior, investment in agricultural inputs, and consumption. They found that farmers with access to formal savings accounts preserved greater amounts of savings throughout both the harvest and planting seasons...

Recruiting and Motivating Community Health Workers in Zambia

The Government of Zambia partnered with researchers to test the effect of two different recruitment strategies for a newly created healthcare position, the Community Health Assistant (CHA). One strategy emphasized career opportunities and the other emphasized the contributions one could make in the...

Teaching Savings Practices to Ugandan Youth

In Uganda, researchers evaluated whether offering financial education or group savings accounts to church-based youth groups increased savings. One year after the intervention ended, they found that total savings and income had increased among youth who were offered financial education, group...

The Role of Financial Incentives in Recruiting Public Sector Employees

The ability and integrity of civil servants can have important consequences for the lives of the poor. Researchers analyzed the impact of financial incentives and characteristics of the work environment on attracting qualified applicants to Mexico’s public sector. Offering higher wages attracted...

Recreational Tutoring to Fight Early-Age School Difficulties in France (APFEE)

Researchers assessed the impact of a recreational tutoring program on students’ academic achievements and interest for school work provided by the NGO Apfee. Researchers found that children identified as falling behind by their teachers in schools where the tutoring program was offered did not...

The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Child Labor Allocation in Nicaragua

Ximena Del Carpio
Renos Vakis
In Nicaragua, researchers analyzed the impact of a conditional cash transfer program on the distribution of child labor within households. In households that randomly received a conditional cash transfer, older boys and boys who were behind in school spent significantly less time working each week...

Does Campaign Spending Work in the United States?

In partnership with candidates, researcher Alan Gerber conducted five randomized evaluations in two states to measure the effect of campaign mailings on vote shares. The results suggest that incumbent spending has a negligible effect on vote share, whereas challenger spending was effective.