In order to measure the level of competition among traders in Sierra Leone’s cocoa market, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of delivering subsidies to cocoa traders on prices that traders paid to cocoa farmers. While the bonus payments did not affect the prices paid to farmers, it did lead the traders to more frequently offer credit through advance payments to farmers. These results suggest that Sierra Leone’s agricultural trading sector was competitive, meaning that all traders offered similar prices to farmers.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation with the Indonesian government that compared self-targeting to automatic screening in the context of a conditional cash transfer program. Requiring households to apply for a cash transfer program in Indonesia discouraged rich households from seeking out benefits and identified a relatively poorer group of beneficiaries.

To test this, researchers evaluated the impact of a financial literacy workshop on miners’ financial understanding, behavior, and use of financial services.

Can a multi-dimensional program enhance parental involvement and student outcomes? A program implemented in low-income public elementary schools led to improved parental involvement and improved relationships between parents, students, and teachers.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to study the impact of elite capture in a conditional cash transfer program in Indonesia. Elite capture existed in some programs, but the welfare losses created were small, suggesting that improving administrative capabilities in targeting methods might be more effective in enhancing social assistance programs than focusing on elite capture.

In Peru, researchers evaluated the impact of a tailored inquiry- and problem-based learning approach on preschoolers’ performance in math. The program improved overall mathematics outcomes, which persisted for some content areas even one year after the program ended.

Researchers examined the effects of free savings account access on savings account use, indebtedness, consumption, and well-being. Easy access to savings accounts reduced participants’ reliance on borrowing, helped them manage fluctuations in income, and increased their self-reported well-being.

The Value Added Tax (VAT) system, which generates a paper trail on transactions between firms, facilitated tax enforcement by spreading the impact of enforcement measures up the production chain in a study with over 400,000 firms in Chile.