Researchers in France studied whether government-provided recruiting services would impact firms’ job postings and hiring by lowering recruiting costs. The recruiting services decreased firms’ hiring costs and increased firms’ job postings and hiring, including much sought-after permanent-contract hires.

Although 20 percent of the population in New Delhi, India live in slums and represent an important voter group for politicians, public service provision in slums remains inadequate. In an ongoing study, researchers evaluated whether providing information to government officials and slum dwellers can lead to higher accountability and improved service delivery.

Access to quality jobs is a pressing concern in sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, researchers partnered with the technology company Sama and Innovations for Poverty Action to conduct a randomized evaluation of Sama’s training and job referral programs.

Researchers evaluated a secondary school readiness program, Utkarsh, that provided targeted instruction to students in Odisha, India.

Buyers often have limited information on service quality in low- and middle-income countries. In the absence of information, buyers may receive low quality services or may choose not to seek out service at all, limiting potential benefits for households. Researchers evaluated a program in Pakistan that provided farmers with information on veterinarians’ artificial insemination (AI) success rates and average prices. This led to more successful inseminations without a rise in AI prices.

Researchers collaborated with Uber in Egypt to assess the impacts of expanding access to its ride services through price on the demand for ride-hailing and overall consumer mobility. Lowering the price of ride-hailing services increased people’s use of Uber and overall consumer mobility.

Researchers are working with small- and medium-sized enterprises in the leather goods and footwear manufacturing sector in Bangladesh to understand the role of information in the adoption of energy-efficient motors for stitching machines, as well as firms’ perception of and willingness to pay for the new technology. This study in ongoing and results are forthcoming.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of boarding schools on educational outcomes and well-being for children with disadvantaged backgrounds in France. The top third of students admitted to France’s first “boarding school of excellence” had large improvements in math scores after two years, but there were no impacts on French skills for any of the students.

In Pakistan, researchers are evaluating the impact of using mobile phones to directly connect politicians with voters and give voters the opportunity to provide real-time feedback to their elected representatives.

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of offering stipends for exit exam preparatory courses on students’ exam completion and subsequent education, labor market, and marital outcomes.

Researchers will conduct a randomized evaluation to test the impact of different types of notifications on rates of failure to appear in traffic and criminal misdemeanor courts.

In this randomized evaluation, researchers evaluated the impact of a medical debt relief program (that buys and relieves a portion of individuals’ medical debt) on measures of mental and physical health, health care utilization, and financial well-being—including financial distress, credit score, debt balances, and repayment behavior. Individuals randomized to receive debt relief did not see improvements in the health and financial outcomes measured compared to those in the comparison group.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the effect of a basic CCT program, as well as two complementary interventions, on households’ vulnerability to irregular weather patterns. Providing households with vocational training or capital grants to generate non-agricultural income helps improve consumption and resilience to weather shocks.