In Colombia, researchers evaluated the impact of an online sexual health course implemented in public middle schools on adolescents’ sexual health knowledge, behavior, and attitudes towards sexual health. The study showed that the online course led to improved sexual health knowledge and attitudes, and increased the likelihood that students redeemed vouchers for condoms, an important precautionary behavior.

J-PAL affiliate Benjamin Olken (MIT) devised a method to measure corruption and used it to evaluate alternative strategies to reduce corruption on Indonesian roadbuilding projects. The evaluation tested two types of strategies: encouraging community participation and increasing the probability of centrally-administered audits. The results suggest that community participation should not be seen as a panacea for corruption, while also demonstrating that even entrenched corruption can be reduced.

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a nursing skills training program targeting female youth based in Assiut and Sohag, Egypt, on employment outcomes on the treated group and more importantly, their local social network.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to look at the effect of private connections in a setting where most households already had access to high-quality water through public taps. They found that households had a high willingness to pay for piped water, and while home water connection had no impact on waterborne illness, households' self-reported happiness improved substantially.

Researchers are examining the impact of offering health insurance through a microfinance institution on clients’ health behaviors and health outcomes, as well as on the institution’s profit, client retention, and default rates.

Researchers found that both individuals with higher moral standards and individuals who were the least naïve displayed lower default rates than other groups. They also found that survey-based social capital measures did not predict loan default for these individual loans, contrary to the results from a prior study of group loans. Additionally, researchers found that more general personality index measures were not good predictors of default.

Researchers partnered with the Honduran government to evaluate the impact of replacing textbooks with laptops on student learning. Using laptops resulted in no change in learning outcomes, suggesting that laptops could be a cost-effective substitute to textbooks if they can replace enough textbooks.

In this randomized evaluation in Rajasthan, India, researchers examined the effectiveness of five interventions on police performance: limiting administrative transfers; rotating duties and days off; elevating community involvement; incorporating on-duty training; and implementing “decoy” visits by survey enumerators. While decoy visits and trainings improved police performance, the other three interventions were inconsistently implemented and had no detectable impact.

In India, researchers measured the impact of providing vouchers to attend private schools on student learning. Students who won vouchers had test scores that were 0.13 standard deviations higher across all subjects.

Technology adoption often requires investments over time. As farmers realize new information about the costs and benefits of investments, they may abandon the newly adopted technology shortly after. Researchers partnered with the non-governmental organization Shared Value Africa and Dunavant Cotton Ltd to investigate the effects of subsidies and follow-through rewards on the adoption of an agroforestry tree species.

In India, researchers evaluated the impact of biometric tracking devices in tuberculosis (TB) care centers on patient adherence to treatment, provider performance, and data quality. Biometric devices increased patient adherence to TB treatment and provider performance.

This evaluation measured the impact of different in-store information campaigns on the consumption of plastic shopping bags and the sale of reusable bags in grocery stores across Mexico. The information campaigns did not significantly reduce plastic bag consumption or increase the sale of the reusable bags. The low intensity of the campaigns may have been a factor in their ineffectiveness.

In this study, researchers randomly selected existing group-lending centers to convert to an individual liability model. They found no difference in repayment rates between individuals assigned individual liability and those assigned group liability, no change in overall profitability for the bank, and a reduction in voluntary savings for those removed from joint liability.

Researchers evaluated the effect of an unconditional cash transfer program targeting mostly men on intimate partner violence in a context where nearly forty percent of households are polygamous. Polygamous households receiving the transfer experienced less physical and emotional violence, while monogamous households experienced no change.