Displaying 7216 - 7230 of 7528
Evaluation
Reducing Job Search Costs with an SMS-based Messaging App in Rural Tanzania
The researcher conducted a randomized evaluation in rural Tanzania to determine the impact of an SMS-based messaging app that connects agricultural workers and employers on wages. Results found that the SMS-based messaging app reduced wage spread within villages–meaning employers paid a wage closer to the average wage.
Evaluation
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Learning in Brazil
Researchers evaluated the learning impacts of using AI systems to score and comment on essays written for Brazil’s national post-secondary admission exam. In schools where AI technology was introduced, teachers were able to provide more frequent individualized feedback to students, and students’ essay scores improved as a result.
Evaluation
Closing the Word Gap with Big Word Club: Evaluating the Impact of a Tech-Based Early Childhood Vocabulary Program
Researchers evaluated the Big Word Club, a classroom-based digital learning program designed to increase the vocabulary of young children, to assess the program’s impact on children’s receptive vocabulary. Researchers found that the Big Word Club increased students’ knowledge and retention of words included in the program.
Person
Pedro De Souza Ferreira
Person
Raquel Caldeira
Event
Curso en línea: Introducción a la evaluación de programas y uso de evidencia para organizaciones en Centroamérica
J-PAL LAC ofrecerá una capacitación gratuita en línea para introducir la evaluación de impacto aleatorizada y el uso de evidencia para la generación de mejores programas sociales y gubernamentales.
Evaluation
Providing Foodstuffs and Cash Loans to Improve Smallholder Farming in Zambia
In Zambia, researchers examined the impact of access to seasonal credit on farming households’ consumption, labor allocation, and agricultural output. The results suggest that access to food and cash loans during the lean season increased agricultural output and consumption, decreased off-farm labor, and increased local wages.
Evaluation
The Impact of Group-Based Grain Storage Schemes on Farmers Savings and Incomes in Kenya
Researchers worked with existing savings clubs in Kenya to study the effect of two interventions on savings: the provision of communal crop storage devices and the provision of savings accounts earmarked for farm purchases. Researchers find that the products were popular: about 56% of farmers took up the products. Respondents in the maize storage intervention were 23 percentage points more likely to store maize (on a base of 69%), 37 percentage points more likely to sell maize (on a base of 36%) and (conditional on selling) sold later and at higher prices.
Evaluation
Examining Underinvestment in Agriculture: Returns to Capital and Insurance Among Farmers in Ghana
Researchers in northern Ghana evaluated the underlying reason for underinvestment by examining the relative effectiveness of cash grants and insurance grants in improving crop yields. Results suggest that uninsured risk, rather than a lack of capital, was the primary constraint on investment. Researchers found that farmers who received free insurance spent more on fertilizer and hired labor, and they also cultivated more land than those who received cash grants.
Evaluation
Mobile Money and Agricultural Investment in Mozambique
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of offering interest-paying mobile money saving accounts to farmers, and in some cases farmers’ friends, on their financial behavior such as agricultural investment. Providing farmers access to interest-bearing mobile savings accounts increased both the amount of money they saved using these accounts and the likelihood they invested in fertilizer, while providing farmer’s closest farming friends the same incentivized mobile money accounts did not increase savings.
Evaluation
The Market for Local Agricultural Information in Western Kenya
This study in Western Kenya will test for failures in the market for local agricultural information and measure the impact of disseminating local information on farmers’ decisions to invest in agricultural inputs.
Person
Namrata Kala
Person
Shawn Cole
Shawn Cole is the John G McLean Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research examines agriculture, corporate finance, banking, and consumer finance in developing countries.
Person
Margaret McConnell
Margaret McConnell is Associate Professor of Global Health Economics at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her current research combines behavioral economics with field and laboratory experiments to design and evaluate policies to change health and financial behaviors.