Working Papers and Current Research

This webpage is being transitioned out. Please visit owenozier.github.io for the most updated information.

Working Papers

• Big Sisters, Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen; Fernald, Lia C.H.; Knauer, Heather Ashley. Policy Research Working Paper 9454, 2020.

  • Coverage: The Telegraph, NPR Morning Edition, NPR Goats and Soda, TODAY, Yahoo

  • October 2020 Blog Post at CGD: Doing Well in Life? Thank Your Big Sister

• Recruitment, Effort, and Retention Effects of Performance Contracts for Civil Servants: Experimental Evidence from Rwandan Primary Schools, Leaver, Clare; Ozier, Owen; Serneels, Pieter Maria; Zeitlin, Andrew. Policy Research Working Paper 9395, 2020.

  • Conditionally accepted for publication in the American Economic Review; see publication details on Publications page.

• Multilingual Assessment of Early Child Development: Analyses from Repeated Observations of Children in Kenya, Knauer, Heather Ashley; Kariger, Patricia Karol; Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen; Fernald, Lia C. H. Policy Research Working Paper 9028, 2019.

  • Published in Developmental Science; see publication details on Publications page.

• Replication Redux: The Reproducibility Crisis and the Case of Deworming, Ozier, Owen. Policy Research Working Paper 8835, 2019.

  • Accepted for publication in the World Bank Research Observer; see publication details on Publications page.

• Enhancing Young Children's Language Acquisition through Parent-Child Book-Sharing: A Randomized Trial in Rural Kenya, Knauer, Heather Ashley; Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen; Aboud, Frances E; Fernald, Lia C.H. Policy Research Working Paper 8733, 2019.

  • Published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly; see publication details on Publications page.

• Motivating bureaucrats through social recognition: evidence from simultaneous field experiments, Gauri, Varun; Jamison, Julian; Mazar, Nina; Ozier, Owen, Raha, Shomikho; Saleh, Karima. Policy Research Working Paper 8473, 2018.

  • • Coverage in The Economist: Policymakers around the world are embracing behavioural science

• Gendered Language, Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen. Policy Research Working Paper 8464, 2018.

  • October 2018 video of DEC Policy Research Talk: Gendered Language.

  • Blog coverage by Markus Goldstein at Development Impact: Is grammar holding back efficiency and growth?

• A Firm of One’s Own: Experimental Evidence on Credit Constraints and Occupational Choice, Brudevold-Newman, Andrew; Honorati, Maddalena; Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen. 2017.

  • Also available as IZA Discussion Paper 10583, 2017.

  • Presentation at ASSA 2018

  • 2017 IZA GLMLIC Policy Brief: Girls Empowered by Microfranchising: Estimating the Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi

  • 2017 PEDL Research Note: Estimating the Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi

  • Featured in World Bank DECRG April 2017 Research Highlights

  • November 2012 Blog Post at All About Finance: Microfranchising in Nairobi hits the BBC

  • PEDL Pilot Study Research Note

  • Trial Registry AEARCTR-0000459

• The Impact of Violence on Individual Risk Preferences: Evidence from a Natural Experiment, Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen. IZA Discussion Paper 9870, 2016.

  • Accepted for publication in the Review of Economics and Statistics; see publication details on Publications page.

  • (Earlier versions: Policy Research Working Paper 7440, 2015; also available at SSRN; also available as Households in Conflict Network working paper 204).

• The Impact of Secondary Schooling in Kenya: a Regression Discontinuity Analysis, Ozier, Owen. Policy Research Working Paper 7384, 2015. (Also available at SSRN.)

  • Published in the Journal of Human Resources; see publication details on Publications page.

• Exploiting Externalities to Estimate the Long-term Effects of Early Childhood Deworming, Ozier, Owen. Policy Research Working Paper 7052, 2014. (Also available at SSRN.)

  • Published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics; see publication details on Publications page.

• Perils of simulation: parallel streams and the case of stata's rnormal command, Ozier, Owen. Policy Research Working Paper 6278, 2012. (Also available at SSRN.)

• Does Africa need a Rotten Kin Theorem? experimental evidence from village economies, Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen, Policy Research Working Paper 6085, 2012. (Also available at SSRN.)

  • Published in the Review of Economic Studies; see publication details on Publications page.

• Incentives to learn, Kremer, Michael; Miguel, Edward; Thornton, Rebecca; Ozier, Owen. Policy Research Working Paper 3546, 2005.

Current Research Projects

• Rwanda: Selection and Motivational Impacts of Performance Contracts for Rwandan Primary School Teachers (joint work with Clare Leaver, Pieter Serneels, and Andrew Zeitlin)

  • Description at World Bank SIEF project page

  • Description at World Bank REACH grantees page

  • December 2018 blog post Development Impact: Power to the Plan. (joint with Clare Leaver, Pieter Serneels, and Andrew Zeitlin.) Also cross-posted on the BITSS blog.

  • February 2018 Blog Post at Development Impact: How to attract and motivate passionate public service providers.

  • Trial Registry AEARCTR-0002565

• Kenya: Study of private primary schools and early childhood education centers (joint work with Anthony Keats, Michael Kremer, and Isaac Mbiti)

  • Description (early childhood) at World Bank ELP countries page

• Kenya: EMERGE Reading (joint work with Lia Fernald, Patricia Kariger, Heather Knauer, and Pamela Jakiela)

  • Description at World Bank ELP countries page

  • Description at World Bank SIEF project page

  • Trial Registry ISRCTN68855267

  • Trial Registry AEARCTR-0004425