Researchers evaluated the impact of immediately following up an early childhood development intervention for one-to-three-year-old children with a second intervention for three-to-six-year-olds. The early and late interventions each increased IQ and school readiness for children, although there was not enough evidence to determine whether offering both programs was more effective than offering one.

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 pressure email followed by recipients of the personalized email.

Researchers are testing the relative effect on knowledge and savings behaviors of training customers through business correspondent agents and giving customers financial information directly, using an innovative mobile-based information platform.

Researchers sought to understand different types of information asymmetries and how they relate to loan default rates in South Africa. Borrowers given high interest rates had a greater incentive to default as it was more costly to repay the loan, but there was little evidence that borrowers defaulted because they had never intended to repay the loan.

Finding effective strategies to prevent violence and systematic harassment at school can improve student outcomes and wellbeing. Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of two programs aiming to reduce violence and harassment in primary and middle schools in France. Overall, neither program reduced violence or harassment. However, social mediation was effective when the mediator was experienced, and particularly so for students who initially faced higher levels of violence.

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.

In the Dominican Republic, researchers are investigating whether financial education and business training can help recipients of CCTs to manage their own finances and ultimately graduate from the program.

In Chicago, researchers evaluated an intensive two-on-one math tutoring program for 9th and 10th grade male students in public schools to assess the effectiveness of individualized instruction. Students who were randomly assigned to tutoring scored higher on math exams, earned better grades in math, and were more likely to pass high school classes.

Researchers offered market vendors and bicycle taxi drivers in rural Kenya the opportunity to open a savings account at no cost. The formal savings accounts increased savings, productive investments, and expenditure levels among female micro-entrepreneurs, but not among males.

Researchers examined the short-term responses of a grant to school committees and find that overall, parents increased participation and responsibility, but these efforts did not improve overall school quality. Enrollment at the lowest grades increased and school resources improved, but teacher absenteeism increased, and there was no impact on test scores.

Researchers partnered with a water company in Zambia to evaluate whether improved information and incentives can help households manage their water usage. They found that targeting incentives to higher household water consumers might be an effective way to reduce water consumption.

In Niger, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing training and conditional or unconditional cash transfers on farmers’ adoption and use of an environmental technology, their resulting land use, agricultural production and profitability, and labor allocation. Providing farmers with training led to a substantially higher probability of adopting the technology, while the conditional or unconditional cash transfers had no additional effect on farmers’ decision to adopt.

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations to test the impacts of providing customized information on predicted case outcomes or conciliation services on labor court settlement rates in Mexico. Both interventions nearly doubled the immediate settlement rate, but only when the plaintiff was there to personally receive the information, and evidence suggests that the interventions increased payments to workers.

In Rwanda, researchers worked with TechnoServe to evaluate the impact of an agronomy training program on farmers’ knowledge and use of best practices in coffee-growing. Preliminary results suggest that the trainings helped some farmers improve their coffee-growing practices, but that the practices more likely to be adopted were those that required less effort on the part of the farmers. Future analysis will examine whether and how these practices spread through farmers’ social networks.

Researchers are evaluating the impact of an innovative mobile phone-based digital finance program on loan repayment rates, investment decisions, savings, and use of other financial services, as well as agricultural yields and profits.