Projects by Status
Completed Projects

Women as Policy Makers
The impact of female political leaders on policy decisions.

Balsakhi Program
Does remedial tutoring for primary school students improve learning?

Discrimination in the Job Market
Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?

Information and Social Interaction in Savings Decisions
The influence of information and social networks on voluntary Tax Deferred Account enrollment.

Computer-Assisted Learning Project
Does access to computer-assisted learning in primary schools improve the quality of education?

Encouraging Teacher Attendance through Monitoring with Cameras in Rural India
Cameras with time-date stamps documented teacher attendance, incentive pay rewarded attendance, and tests measured how student performance changed as a result.

Measuring the Impact of School Inputs in Kenya
Randomized trials versus retrospective studies: The case of flipcharts in Kenya

Interest Rates and Consumer Credit
The effect of changing the interest rate on loan acceptance in South Africa.

Marketing Effects in a Consumer Credit Market
Investigate marketing effects on loan acceptance in South Africa.

Business and Health Education for Microcredit Clients
Examining the impact of integrating business training into the normal credit operations of group-lending microfinance institutions.

Commitment Savings Products
Can innovative savings products help increase savings?

Primary School Deworming Project
This project estimates the impact of child health gains, due to a primary school health project, on their educational outcomes.

Balwadi Health Program
This project estimates the impact of child health gains, due to a preschool health and nutrition project, on preschool participation.

Incentives to Learn in Kenya
Examining the impacts of scholarships for girls in Kenya

School Choice in Colombia
Measuring the impact of vouchers for private schooling in Colombia

Peer Effects, Alcohol, and College Roommates
Examining the impact of randomly-assigned college roommates on drinking behavior

Peer Effects, Diversity, and College Roommates
Examining the impact of randomly assigned college roommates on diversity-related outcomes

Teacher Incentives
Examining the effects of a teacher incentives program in Kenya

Decentralization: A Cautionary Tale
Centralization and school finance in Kenya

The Rockefeller Effect
The impact of outside funding on community organizations in Kenya

Textbooks and Test Scores
Evidence from a prospective evaluation of textbook provision in Kenya

The Illusion of Sustainability
Examining "sustainable" de-worming interventions in Kenya

Social Learning about Health in Kenya
Networks, social learning, and technology adoption for the case of de-worming drugs in Kenya

Saving Incentives for Low and Middle Income Families: Evidence from a Field Experiment with H & R Block
The effects of matching incentives for IRA contributions at the time of tax preparation.

Improving Primary Education Management in Madagascar (AGEMAD)
Examines the impact of a management intervention on key actors in the educational system as well as on school outcomes.

Combatting Corruption in Community Development
Top-down vs. bottom-up monitoring of corruption in rural infrastructure projects

Political Institutions and Local Public Goods
Can direct democracy reduce elite capture?

Information and Community Mobilization
Information and Community Mobilization to Improve School Functioning and Children s Learning in Rural Indian Primary Schools

Using Encouragement to Overcome Psychological Barriers to Saving
How community-based banks can use encouragement to help clients meet their saving goals and develop the habit of saving with formal institutions in urban Peru.

Elasticities of Demand: Interest Rates and Consumer Credit in South Africa
Determining the effect of changing interest rate or maturity period on loans

Deposit Collectors in the Philippines
Will a visit from a bank representative to a house increase that household's savings? Evidence from the Philippines

Effect of Media on Voting Behavior and Political Opinions in the U.S.
Determining the effect of subscriptions to local liberal and conservative newspapers on voters' attitudes in Washington, D.C.

Impact of Small Consumer Loans on the Working Poor in South Africa
What happens when you extend a loan to a client who previously was denied?

Psychological Responses to Microfinance Loan Recovery Strategies in Peru
Measuring the persuasive power of group or individual pressure and optimistic or pessimistic spins to encourage loan repayment

Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing? Evidence from a Malaria Prevention Experiment in Kenya
Analyzing the tradeoffs between free and partial-subsidization of public health goods.

Ongoing Projects

HIV/AIDS Prevention Education in Primary Schools in Kenya
A cost benefit analysis of Kenya's AIDS prevention program.

Affirmative Action
The effect of cast-based affirmative action on a college-age cohort in Bhopal, India.

Bank Accounts: Take Up and Impact
Tracing the effects of bank accounts on the lives of the poor.

Finding Missing Markets: An Agricultural Brokerage Intervention in Kenya
Investigating the factors keeping farmers from the local market.

Group Versus Individual Liability
Introducing individual liability into group-lending microcredit contracts.

Valuing Trust in Shantytowns
Determining and analyzing the value of trust with microcredit lending models.

Understanding Technology Adoption: Fertilizer in Western Kenya
Why do Kenyan farmers not use fertilizer even though it appears to have the potential to improve yields considerably?

Kenya Life Panel Survey
This project estimates the impact of child health gains, due to a primary school health project, on their later educational, labor market, health, and marriage outcomes.

Healthcare and health status in Udaipur district, Rajasthan
This project seeks to identify the determinants of health among the rural population of Udaipur district in Rajasthan, India.

School Meals
School meals, educational attainment, and school competition in Kenya

Long-Term Impacts of School Choice in Colombia
Long-Term Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia

Extra Teachers in Kenya: Peer Effects, Pupil Teacher Ratios and Teacher Incentives
Examine the effect of class size reduction in Kenya

Measuring the impact of microfinance in Hyderabad, India
What is the impact of microcredit on the incomes, health, and education of poor families?

Community Driven Development in Sierra Leone
Do community empowerment projects improve local governance, and increase the inclusion of vulnerable groups?

Rigorous Assessment of Microcredit in Rural Morocco
What is the impact of microcredit on agricultural and non agricultural activities, income, consumption, poverty and household security?

Charitable Giving
Putting the Psychological Drivers of Giving in Context: Evidence from a Series of Direct Mail Field Experiments

Conditional Community Cash Transfers
Should Aid Be Conditional On Performance?

Incentives to Stay HIV Negative in Malawi
Examines the impact of incentives to stay HIV negative

Cooking Stoves, Indoor Air Pollution, and Respiratory Health in India
The health and economic impacts of reducing indoor air pollution

Providing Health Insurance Through Microfinance Networks in Rural India
Can providing health insurance to microfinance clients improve outcomes?

Credit with Health Insurance: Evidence from the Philippines
Evaluating the national health insurance program offered to microfinance clients in the Philippines

Measuring the Impact of Microcredit in the Philippines
Evaluating the effects of receiving a loan while simultaneously assessing a credit scoring model

Anti-smoking Commitment Savings in the Philippines
Evaluating a commitment savings program in which clients who wish to quit smoking are given access to savings only if they successfully quit smoking

Debt Trap Experiment in the Philippines
Why are some entrepreneurs perpetually in debt? We study the characteristics of vendors who repeatedly fall into high-interest debt.

Determinants of Delinquency: A Field Experiment in the Philippines
Studying the characteristics of microfinance clients who are more likely to default with the aim of helping microfinance institutions make better selection decisions

Emergency Savings Accounts for Remittance Receivers in Mexico
Assessing the impact of a labeled savings account on the allocation of funds for future, emergency needs

Impact of Microcredit in Rural Areas in Peru
Examining the impact of microcredit offerings on communities and individuals in rural Peru

Impact of Rural Banking Program on Savings, Consumption Smoothing, and Intra-Household Resource Allocation in Kenya
Assessing the impact of providing one of 3 types of savings accounts to a group of daily income earners in Kenya

Interest Rate Sensitivities to Micro-loans according to Poverty Level in Ghana
Examining how interest rates affect the take-up of individual micro-loan products according to the poverty level of the recipient

Interest Rate Sensitivity among Microfinance Clients in the Philippines
Evaluating the interest sensitivity among microfinance clients by offering loans at randomly assigned interest rates

Interest Rate Sensitivity among Village Banking Clients in Mexico
Measuring price elasticity of demand among microfinance clients through random assignment of interest rates

Inviting Husbands to Female Solidarity Groups in Mexico
Evaluating household impacts of including husbands in solidarity lending groups

Measuring Demand for Health Insurance in the Philippines
Measuring the effect of differences in premiums, coverage, and marketing packages on insurance take-up

Psychology of Savings: Evaluation of Commitment Savings Programs in the Philippines
Testing various mechanisms and designs to encourage habit-forming behaviors

Evaluating the Microfinance and Health Protection Initiative in Benin
Evaluating the impact of the solidarity lending, health education, and provision of health products with Freedom From Hunger and PADME in Benin

Peeling Back the Layers of Group Liability in Bolivia
Examining whether reducing group liability in a group lending program in Bolivia will broaden the program's outreach while maintaining high repayment rates, and investigating the optimal formation of solidarity groups within the program

Teacher and Student Motivation, Family Participation, and Student Achievement in Rural India
What are the links between instructor and student motivation and absenteeism, family participation and student achievement in rural India?

Police Performance, Community Policing, and Public Perception in Rajasthan, India
Evaluating interventions to improve police performance, efficiency, accountability and relationship with the public.

Identifying retail distribution strategies for long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) in malaria-endemic areas
How can different factors influence LLIN purchasing decisions?

Misclassification in the Targeted Public Distribution System in India
Examining the role of household-authority connectedness on ration card designation

Education Information Intervention in Sierra Leone
The impact of empowering parents and communities on children's access to education

Counseling the Unemployed in France
Does providing counseling and monitoring to unemployed jobseekers actually have an impact? Do they stay employed? And does it matter if the agency that runs the program is privately or governmentally run?

Counseling Welfare Recipients in France
Studying the outcomes of intensive personal counseling given to long term welfare recipients.

Counseling Scheme for the Young and Educated Unemployed in France
Assessing the impact and crowding out effects of a counseling scheme directed at the young and educated unemployed.

Helping the Ultra-Poor Use Microfinance in India
Can training and assistance help the ultra-poor become successful microfinance clients?

Household Water Connections in Urban Morocco
How do household water connections affect health, income, and schooling?

Community-Based Monitoring of Primary Health Care Providers in Uganda
How does being more accountable to the community affect health service providers?

Participation and Accountability in Health Care Provision in Uganda
Does performance monitoring and "scoring" of public health programs by communities improve their effectiveness?

Extending health insurance to the informal sector through microfinance in Nicaragua
Does offering health insurance through microfinance institutions enhance affordable health care?

Menstruation and Education in Nepal

Empowering Girls in Rural Bangladesh
How does building basic skills, social skills and financial skills empower adolescents?

Experiment on Micro Finance Repayment Schedules in West Bengal
Understanding the effects of more flexible repayment schedules of micro finance loans on default and repayment patterns.

Powerful Women: Female Leadership and Gender Bias
How big a part does gender bias play in the popular evaluation of female political leader?

Business Training for Women in Ahmedabad, India
Does training women in good business practices increase the benefits of microfinance?

Urban Housing in Ahmedabad, India
A retrospective examination of the longterm effects of a lottery relocation program carried out in 1993 on economic mobility.

Financial Innovation and Risk Management: Rainfall Insurance

Financial Innovation and Risk Management II: Futures Prices and Risk Hedging

Financial Literacy, Access to Finance, and the Effect of Being Banked

Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Targeting the Ultra Poor in Bangladesh
Can providing the ultra-poor with a comprehensive assistance package help them break the poverty cycle and increase their access to mainstream development services?

Human Capital, Financial capital, and the Economic Empowerment of Female Adolescents: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Uganda and Tanzania
How can adolescent girls be empowered in rural settings and what is the effect of this empowerment on their economic outcomes, self confidence, expectations and aspirations?

Designing Conditional Cash Transfers in Education: Colombia Subsidios Program
How do conditional cash transfer programs' incentive structures impact students' rates of attendance, graduation, and continuation to higher education?


E60-275
30 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA
02142
povertyactionlab@mit.edu
ph: 617-324-3852
fax: 617-253-5461
Search | Site Map